Being Human
by fanwriter1245
Summary: Sequel to "An Unlikely Dream Come True" and "End of the Game" - In the aftermath of the battle in Metropolis, some people, like Karly, understand that Clark only means well. Some people, like Bruce, resent him especially after his wife was nearly killed that day. The two women closest to the heroes may be the only people who can show them the truth. Before it's too late.
1. Prologue

**I have wanted to have two of my OCs meet for the longest time, and it appeared this story was the best way to do that. I had a poll open on my profile for about two years, and though it's remained pretty even, the end result was that more people wanted to see both love interests rather than just one.**

 **This means that this story is a continuation of both "An Unlikely Dream Come True" and my "Dark Knight" trilogy stories. Because of that, I had to combine Nolan-verse and Snyder-verse so I had to take some creative liberties here and there. Bear with me. I was hesitant to do that since I didn't know if people would be angry with me, but then I figured that almost everyone already didn't care for the movie anyway, so there wasn't much I could do to make it worse...  
**

 **Here are some character profiles of my OCs to refresh anyone's memory. More will be explained in story:**

 **Karly Mathis: Clark's love interest. The two of them went to school together growing up, always watching one another from a distance. They were both interested in each other but both believed the other was better off without them. Therefore, they ended up never speaking until Clark saved Karly when she got injured on his ship in the Arctic. From there, the two began to work together to defeat Zod.** ** **She is an employee of DARPA as an assistant to Dr. Hamilton.****

 ** **Kristina Wayne (previously Jacobson): Bruce's wife. She is from our world but was thrown into the Batman universe when she was 26. She lived at Wayne Manor during her time in Gotham and slowly began to see Bruce as a real person rather than just someone to fangirl over. After the events with Bane, she and Bruce traveled the world and got married.****

* * *

Chaos.

That was the only word on Bruce's mind as the helicopter started to touch down in Metropolis.

Before the helicopter even landed, Bruce had already opened the door and hopped out to land on the platform. A car was already waiting for him per his clear instructions.

Getting out of the helicopter behind him was his wife of ten years, Kristina, or as she preferred to be called, Kris.

The two of them ran to the car, pausing when they saw a gigantic strange machine in the air right in the center of the city.

"What is that?" Kris breathed.

The machine used a large beam of light and energy to pull up hundreds of pieces of debris before slamming it all back down on the ground with extreme force.

"Come on, we gotta go!" Bruce yelled.

Kris ran around to the other side of the car and slid into the passenger seat. Bruce slammed the gas and took off into the city.

As he drove through the near-empty streets, an explosion lit up the road in front of them. Bruce careened to the left which caused Kris to slam into the door. The beam of light sent more debris and dust their way. The car swerved in every direction to avoid being hit by both the beam and the random chunks being tossed about in the air.

Bruce whipped out his cellphone. "Jack," he said firmly to one of his employees. "Jack, listen to me. I want you to get everyone out of the building. Right now. You understand?"

Kris looked over at her husband in fear.

What could they do for this city as it was being demolished right in front of them? They didn't even fully understand what was causing it.

"Jack? Jack!"

Bruce slammed the phone shut when Jack did not answer him.

Another explosion sent Bruce swerving to the right. Kris hung onto the door handle to keep herself upright.

"Hold on!" Bruce ordered, attempting to keep control of the car.

"Believe me, I'm holding on!" she yelled back amidst the chaos.

They found themselves in the middle of another explosion, so Bruce took a right down an alley to get out of the flames.

He rammed into an open abandoned car door which sent it flying off. The alley ended and he found himself on the main road, just managing to miss a car driving in their direction.

Another machine flew low through the city and crashed through several of the buildings. This sent stones and bricks flying down to the street. Bruce sped up the car to miss the debris and avoid letting anything crash on top of them.

He slowed when he approached a throng of people. Some of them got out of the way of the car, but Bruce brought it to a stop when he saw that he was never going to be able to get through everyone.

He and Kris got out of the car and looked at the machine ahead of them. The beam of light had disappeared. Several people took pictures and videos of the pandemonium around them. It amazed Kris how much people wanted to document the crazy things happening when it could cost them their lives.

Suddenly, something crashed into the machine, sending a sonic boom out across the city.

The windows shattered on the car along with every other piece of glass in the vicinity.

"You okay?" Bruce called to his wife.

"Yeah," she answered.

Bruce took off running into the city towards the Wayne Financial building where Jack worked.

"Bruce!" Kris called to him.

She quickly followed after her husband. Bruce slowed once his building was in his sights. He once again pulled out his cellphone and dialed Jack's number to confirm he was out.

All he got was voicemail.

Strange beams of fire shot through the building erratically, and it began to crumble to the ground.

Kris put her hand to her mouth.

"Jack!" Bruce screamed.

He and Kris took off towards the building.

The dust from the building collapsing sent out a huge cloud which completely enveloped them. Kris coughed heavily as some of the dust entered her lungs. She put her sleeve over her mouth and nose to protect herself but took it away as the dust slowly settled.

She finally caught up with Bruce and they surveyed the intense damage. The two of them passed a young woman leading a group of children out of the wreckage, all of them looking utterly terrified.

"Mr. Wayne!" someone cried. "Mr. Wayne!"

Bruce and Kris ran over to the source of the voice. They found a man trapped under a heavy steel beam that had crushed his legs.

"I can't feel my legs," the man whimpered. "I can't feel my legs!"

"We need help over here!" Bruce yelled.

"Help me." The man grabbed Bruce's arm in a panic. "I can't feel my legs."

Kris ran around to the other side of the man and took his hand. "It's okay, it's okay, just calm down."

"You're going to be okay, you hear me?" Bruce said firmly. He looked at the man's nametag. "Wallace. What do they call you, Wally? Huh?"

Wallace breathed heavily for a moment. "You're the boss, Boss."

Several men ran over to the three of them. Kris let go of his hand and took hold of his arm and shoulder. Another man did the same for his other arm.

Bruce and the others who had come to help lifted the steel beam off Wallace while Kris and the man pulled him out.

She winced when she saw that his legs had been severely damaged by the beam, and she could see the exposed bone and muscle.

"I can't feel my legs," Wallace panicked. "I can't…I can't feel my legs."

Kris took his hand again. "It's gonna be okay. You need to calm down or you'll make it worse. Just breathe, okay? Breathe."

Bruce took off running. Kris looked over and saw a girl about to get crushed by a piece of falling debris. He ran over to the girl and grabbed her. Kris flinched as the piece of stone crashed to the ground, and she couldn't tell if Bruce had made it clear or not. She had a feeling he had, but she wasn't sure and that made her nervous.

She released her grip on Wallace's hand and ran over to the pile of debris. When she looked up, a cluster of meteors fell to earth with two fighting bodies right in the middle of them. She could barely make out the two bodies, but if the news reports were correct, that was Superman and Zod. As awesome as it was to finally be able to see the famous superhero with her own eyes, this had not been the first 'meeting' she had envisioned.

Kris ran around the huge pile of crumbled building. "Bruce!" she called when she saw him embracing the little girl he had saved.

Bruce looked over at her and his eyes widened in panic. "KRISTINA!"

His wife turned just in time to see a pile of stone from the destroyed building beside her fall in her direction.

Kris screamed.


	2. Chapter 2

_18 Months Later_

After another very long day of work, both as a reporter and as Superman, Clark walked up the steps to his girlfriend's apartment.

He unlocked the door and stepped inside, greeted with the familiar messiness of her place. She had never been one to pick up after herself and various research documents littered the entire floor to join the clothes and used dishes.

After placing his bags on the counter, he looked around for the woman he loved. She was nowhere in sight.

He could see the light on beneath the crack of the bathroom door and went over to it to open it.

A shrill scream that was one decibel away from being something only dogs could hear pierced the air as the woman inside dove for cover behind the shower curtain. "What are you doing?!" she yelled at him. "Clark, get out of here!"

"I'm sorry!" Clark said quickly as he shut the door. "Sorry, sorry, sorry!"

When he was safely outside of the bathroom, he put his hand to his head in embarrassment, his face hot.

The door to the bathroom opened, and a very angry Karly Mathis marched out. She had dressed in gray sweatpants and a tank top and her wet hair had been tied into a tight bun on the top of her head.

"I-I was going to cook," Clark stuttered. "Surprise you."

Karly pointed an accusing finger at him. "Just because I gave you a key to my apartment does _not_ mean you get to walk in on me in the bathroom!"

"I-I'm sorry."

Karly's face reddened. "…How much did you see?"

"Uh…nothing, I saw…I saw nothing."

"This coming from the man with x-ray vision. How do I know you're not sneaking peeks at me all the time?"

"Because I told you that I wouldn't as a respect to your privacy."

"And yet you just waltz into the bathroom without knocking."

"I said I was sorry."

"Whatever. If you're going to be pervy, do it at your own place. You better be cooking something extra good to make up for walking in on me naked."

"I'm making your favorite. Baked ziti with plenty of cheese, parmesan bread, and potatoes."

Karly smiled a little as she crossed her arms. "Okay, you're off to a good start…"

She flipped the TV on as he started baking. The channel she had been watching last was a news station. A hearing discussing Superman had to be what the latest subject was.

Karly looked back over at Clark. "They've been holding hearings for hours about your latest adventure in the desert. You went after Lois again, didn't you?"

Clark avoided her gaze.

"Clark, you have been saving her time and time again. One of these days, you're not going to be there and what is she supposed to do then?"

"Karly…"

"Why do you even keep going after her anyway?"

"She's a human being. She may get herself in trouble all the time, but she still has a right to be saved. Besides, she's useful. As a reporter at the _Daily Planet_ and a believer in Superman, she has the power to make people see that I mean no harm. And she has an uncanny ability to get people to talk and uncover hidden scandals I need to know about."

"She also doesn't know when to stop and it's going to get her killed. She's gotten to the point where she relies on you too much so she doesn't even stop to think that maybe she shouldn't be doing what she's doing."

"I'd do the same for you in a heartbeat."

"I know that, but I have the common sense to not get myself into danger in the first place. Maybe Superman should have a chat with her about her life choices. I don't know how she managed to stay alive before you were there to keep saving her all the time."

Clark was fully aware of his girlfriend's hatred of reporters, so he knew her opinion of Lois was probably a bit biased. "Karly, trust me, okay? I know what I'm doing."

"But now, thanks to her, all these people think that you were the one who killed everyone up there in that desert when you were just there to save her butt yet again."

"Do you think I killed them?"

"I know you didn't, but—"

"Then that's enough for me."

"Yeah, but, Clark—"

"Karly," Clark smiled. "It's going to be fine."

Karly sighed. "All right. Hurry up with that dinner, will you? I'm starving."

"Yes, ma'am."

Karly changed the channel to something far less depressing. She glanced back at Clark as he made his way around her kitchen to cook her dinner and smiled a little to herself. While things had not been easy over the past couple years, she and Clark could not have a better relationship and thought herself to be the luckiest girl on the planet.

* * *

Two policemen entered a building they had been called to and shined their flashlights inside. The light reflected on an object stuck inside the wall.

It was in the shape of a bat.

Knowing what that meant, the two men carefully treaded through the building and down the stairs. A chorus of women's voices reached their ears.

They came across several Asian women locked inside a cage, all of them looking terrified.

"It's okay," one of the officers said gently. "It's okay. We're-We're going to help."

One of the Asian women said something he couldn't understand.

"Okay, we're going to get you out of here. Okay?"

The officer started to open the door, but the women fearfully shut it again. Something had made them terrified to leave their prison. He didn't understand what could be worse than what would happen to them should they stay locked up.

The woman pointed towards the ceiling and said something in her native language.

"I don't understand."

A loud bang followed by a man screaming sounded upstairs. The officers nodded to one another and the one who had spoken to the girls started up the steps, shotgun ready.

"Please, don't," a man begged. "Please, don't. Please. I don't know who he is. I don't know who he is!"

Another bang and a scream echoed across the building.

The officer rounded the corner. To his shock, a man sat tied to the radiator in obvious pain. He slowly looked around, and there in the corner…was the Batman.

Panicked at the sight of the fearsome vigilante, the officer started shooting at the masked man, but he just crawled across the roof like a spider and disappeared inside a hole he had most likely made just for this occasion.

His partner appeared in the doorway to see what the shooting was about, and the officer shot right by his head.

"I saw him," he said shakily. "I never saw him before. I…I didn't know."

"You almost took my face off!" his partner said angrily. "How about you don't shoot the good guys, huh?" He went up to the criminal tied to the radiator and shone his flashlight on his chest. "Oh, man. He branded him."

On the man's chest sat an indent in the shape of a bat.

* * *

Bruce took an elevator down to the Batcave beneath his new home. He walked inside and headed over to the computers, passing by Alfred on the way.

"Still working? You're getting slow in your old age, Alfred."

"It comes to us all, Master Wayne," Alfred replied as he worked on his master's equipment. "Even you got too old to die young. And not for lack of trying."

Bruce approached his wife standing in front of the computers. She took off her headset that she used to listen in to everything and feed him information and smiled as she looked over at him.

"You're so overdramatic," she remarked, referring to the events of his latest outing.

Bruce smiled back as he enveloped her into his arms and kissed her firmly. "Maybe I was just trying to impress you."

"You could've held back just a little bit."

"Are you doing okay?"

"Bruce, my answer is the same as yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that, and the month before that. I'm fine."

"The doctor said you needed to take it easy."

"That was nine months ago. Really, I'm okay."

Alfred picked up Bruce's voice-changer and put it to his neck. "Funnel, fairy, butterbar. Funnel, fairy, butterbar. Funnel, fairy." He took the voice-changer away from his neck. "There's nothing wrong with the microphone. It's this new layer of armor. I'll just have to rewire."

Ever since Lucius Fox had passed away several years ago, Alfred had taken on the role of his engineer, designing and fixing his equipment. It was a skill no one had known he had but were pleased to find that he did. It had taken him some time to get to Lucius's level, but he set himself to the task quite well. Since he had come to the conclusion that he would never be able to talk Bruce out of being Batman, he wanted to help with the equipment so he could have at least a little peace of mind every night.

Bruce and Kristina had returned to Gotham only a year after being gone and traveling the world. They had never planned on returning, but despite it all, Gotham was Bruce's home, and it would always pull him back. Kris saw how much he wanted to put the mask back on and suggested they return to Gotham for him to continue to fulfill his mission.

Ra's Al Ghul, the Joker, and Bane would not be the last people the city came in contact with. They needed their hero. They needed Batman.

So for the last ten years, Bruce had once again donned the Batman persona working alongside Kris, just like the good old days.

Of course, it was a shock for everyone that Bruce Wayne wasn't actually dead, but it was easy to cover that up. Scandals happened all the time, and a faked death was really nothing new for a billionaire. Besides, it wasn't even the first time Bruce had been believed dead since the exact same thing had happened during his seven-year hiatus just before he became Batman.

Wayne Manor remained a foster home for the parentless children in Gotham, so Bruce and Kris opted to find new living quarters and create a new-and-improved Batcave.

Alfred came up to the computer beside the couple with some drinks. "So, last night was productive?"

"No. He's too low-level. He knew nothing. This is the man who knows things." Bruce pulled up several pictures of a man, including close-ups of his tattoos and other defining marks. "Anatoli Knyazev. He's Russian. Contracts all over the globe, but he's based out of the port of Gotham. Weapons and human trafficking."

"So the 'White Portuguese' is a Russian. That's the theory."

"No. The theory is that the Russian will lead me to the man himself."

"If he is, indeed, a 'him'. You don't even know if he exists. He could be a phantasm."

"One that wants to bring a dirty bomb into Gotham?"

"Ah, high-stakes round." Alfred tossed a copy of the morning paper on the desk. Bruce's latest adventure graced the front page. "New rules."

"We're criminals, Alfred. We've always been criminals. Nothing's changed."

"Oh, yes, it has, sir. Everything's changed." Alfred pressed a button on the computer and several footage videos from the battle in Metropolis started playing.

Kris's heart plummeted as she recalled that fateful day, and Bruce felt his blood boil inside of him.

"Men fall from the sky. The gods hurl thunderbolts. Innocents die. That's how it starts, sir. The fever, the rage, the feeling of…powerlessness. It turns good men…cruel."

Alfred left the two of them alone, and Bruce quickly turned the videos off as they brought back many unwanted memories.

Kris took a seat on his lap and began to gently run her fingers through his hair. "He's got a point, you know. You have gotten a bit…brutal as of late."

"It's necessary."

"Or you're just really angry and taking it out on them."

"That's not what I'm doing. Sometimes, in order to get answers, I have to be rough."

"Bruce, that guy last night didn't even know anything. And I really think the branding is going a little too far."

"It sends a message."

"Trust me, I think they'll get that message plain enough without the brand."

Bruce met her eyes and kissed her deeply. "I love you. You know that, right?"

"Yes, but you can't keep doing that to change the subject."

"Why not? It always works."

Kris laughed lightly and leaned her forehead against his. "I'm glad you got back safely tonight."

The two of them began kissing more passionately.


	3. Chapter 3

"Matt, I need those files, and I need them now!" Karly demanded as she walked down the halls of DARPA.

"Right away, Miss Mathis!" her shy, fresh-out-of-college assistant replied.

Karly went over to the printer to retrieve her latest research findings.

"I see you are as busy as ever," a familiar voice called.

Karly looked up and smiled. "I have a busy job that requires me to work fast if I want to get anything done, Dr. Hamilton."

Her boss smiled back. It had taken him several months and a lot of physical therapy to patch up after the disaster in Metropolis, but finally he was back working by her side.

She had originally started working for him as a research assistant, but after everything that had happened, he bumped her up to his partner. He had planned on doing it for a while anyway, and when he was out of commission, it only made sense that she was the one to take his place.

Their attention was drawn to the TV when a news report started.

"Emergency responders quickly created a precautionary perimeter around Heroes Park while they brought the man down from this beloved monument," the reporter said while standing in front of the giant Superman statue the city had erected. "The suspect has been identified as Wallace Vernon Keefe."

The screen showed the perpetrator being shoved into a police car. "I work for Bruce Wayne! I work for Bruce Wayne!"

"He'll be arraigned on charges of vandalism, resisting arrest, and the felony charge of making terrorist threats. That carries up to 40 years in prison."

The screen showed what Wallace had done. He had spray-painted 'False God' on the statue's chest.

Karly crossed her arms and sighed. Clark wasn't going to take this well.

* * *

 _Carrying a bouquet of flowers, Bruce made his way to his parents' graves which now rested inside a mausoleum a little less than a mile from what used to be Wayne Manor._

 _He placed the bouquet right between the gravestones for Thomas and Martha Wayne._

 _He was just about to leave when something caught his eye. He looked closer at the gravestone for Martha. Ever so slowly, a thick line of blood began dripping out of the stone and down to the ground. Bruce lightly touched the blood and rubbed it against his fingers._

 _Suddenly, the gravestone crashed open and a swarm of bats flew out of it and surrounded him. A huge bat-like monster grabbed his neck and started squeezing. Blood dripped from its razor-sharp fangs as Bruce tried to push it away from him._

 _He fell back down onto the ground of the mausoleum._

 _"_ _Bruce!"_

 _Bruce turned to find another monster attacking Kris. Her arm reached out for him, but the monster mauled her before he could get to her._

 _Her screams echoed throughout the mausoleum._

 _The monster attacking him bit into his shoulder._

* * *

Bruce suddenly sprang up in bed and took heaving breaths. His panicked breathing awoke Kris beside him.

She sat up and put her hands around his shoulders. "It's okay, it's okay," she said quietly. "You're all right. Just breathe."

Bruce focused on her hands lightly rubbing his skin and used to it pull him out of the dream he just had and back into reality.

Kris sighed. This was the umpteenth time in the past nine months he had bolted awake in a panic. She now knew exactly what to do to help him calm down, but it really worried her especially since he refused to tell her what he had been dreaming about.

"You've been having nightmares a lot more frequently," Kris remarked. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"It's nothing, I'm fine."

"Bruce, please, just…talk to me. I know you well enough to know when something's wrong."

Bruce poured himself a small glass of wine from the bedside table. After drinking it, he got up from the bed and went over to the large glass window that overlooked the lake by their home.

Kris followed suit and came up behind him before wrapping her arms around his waist. "Please let me be there for you," she said quietly. "Like all the times you've been there for me."

Bruce put his hands on hers. "…I'm fine."

He left the window to get dressed.

Kris crossed her arms and sighed. Ever since the incident in Metropolis, he had started closing himself off to her. He refused to let her accompany him almost anywhere, and he never shared his feelings with her about anything.

It was beyond frustrating.

She knew that what had happened in Metropolis scared him beyond belief, and she tried to understand that, but it was still incredibly annoying how overprotective he was being.

In the living room, Alfred returned and glanced at the wine bottle Bruce had previously drank from. "Oh. I hope the next generation of Waynes won't inherit an empty wine cellar." Then he quietly added, "Not that there's likely to be a next generation."

Bruce put a cup on the table for him.

"Thank you, sir."

Kris came out to join them still dressed in her pajamas. "We're a little old to be thinking about having kids now, Alfred, don't you think? Besides, to bring an innocent child into this life would be really difficult."

Alfred starting shuffling through papers Bruce printed out.

Bruce looked at Kris's laptop and fiddled with some of the programs she'd been working on to hack through the Russian's phone he acquired the night before. "This is every call made from the Russian's phone. Two mentions of business with the 'White Portuguese'. And it's continually transmitting blacked-out data to the personal residence of Alexander Luthor."

"You think Lex Luthor is the 'White Portuguese'? I can't see that he needs the income from imported arms."

"Regardless, I'll need to put a leech at his house, and I'm going to need the suit."

"The Bat interrogated six people and came away with nothing. It was Bruce Wayne that got the information."

"Well, Bruce Wayne can't break into Lex Luthor's house."

"Bruce Wayne won't have to." He handed him a card. "He and his wife have been invited."

Bruce and Kris looked at the invitation to Lex Luthor's gala.

Kris's heart began to pound in her chest. She had yet to meet Lex Luthor, but she knew all too well that he was very bad news.

The thing about Kristina was that she knew things that other people could never hope to know. In her world, all these things were fictional.

In a chance encounter fourteen years ago (eighteen for Bruce), Kris had been in a car crash and had somehow gotten transported into the fictional world of Gotham. Over the course of six years, she lived through _Batman Begins_ , _The Dark Knight_ , and _The Dark Knight Rises_ , going home at the conclusion of each movie.

However, at the end of _The Dark Knight Rises_ , a mysterious man asked her if she wanted to stay to which she answered that she did. She never found out who the man was, but she had managed to stay in Gotham ever since then and married Bruce a year later.

While she now did not know everything that was going to happen like she had when living through movies she knew by heart, she knew the basics such as the fact that Superman was really Clark Kent and Lex Luthor was a complete nutjob. Though some adaptions she knew did try to show him as a more sympathetic character or even let him have a friendship with Clark Kent at first, he inevitably ended up losing it by the end.

Most of the time, she kept her suspicions to herself because she had never fully explained to Bruce where exactly she had come from and how she knew things about his life that she shouldn't have known.

The main reason she hadn't told anyone, even her husband, was because she was afraid that people would start coming to her with questions about other people or events that she wouldn't know how to answer. Even worse, people might blame her for not doing anything if something bad happened. It would be easy to accuse her that she had known what was going to happen and hadn't taken action.

Not only that, but how did one explain to their spouse that where she lived, he was a fictional character where everyone and their second cousin twice removed knew his entire life story?

Bruce went down to the Batcave and put his hand on the imprint. The wall spun and revealed his Batsuit.

He knew he had to make an appearance at this party seeing as Bruce Wayne never turned down an invitation, and it would be easier to sneak around the place as Bruce not Batman. It didn't stop him from wanting to put on the suit and storm the gala instead.

He turned around and stared at the glass case he had erected as a sort of memorial.

The suit inside had yellow paint on it reading, 'HAHAHA Joke's on you Batman'.

Kris came down the stairs and saw him once again looking at the old suit. "Bruce," she said tenderly as she came up next to him. "You couldn't have stopped it. No one could."

"If I had just been a few minutes earlier…"

"I know. But John fought very hard. He died protecting his mother."

John Blake's death had hit Bruce very hard. After disappearing from Gotham after Bane's takeover, Bruce had left the Batcave to him. When Bruce returned, the two of them fought side by side for a few years. However, the Joker soon came back into their lives, and he tricked John into showing up at a warehouse before beating him with a crowbar and blowing up the building. Bruce had been too late to save him, and both of them knew he would never forgive himself for that. What was worse was that the Joker had yet to be caught.

"Come on," she said softly. "We need to get ready for the gala."

"Kris, you should stay and talk me through things from here."

"Oh, I don't think so. I haven't been to a party in forever."

"You hate parties."

"They're fun when I'm with you. So I'm going whether you like it or not. Besides, how would it look if Bruce Wayne showed up at a gala without his wife?"

"I would feel better if you stayed."

"And I will feel better being by your side. Come on, you love it when I accompany you to parties. You said I help keep you sane. What's changed?"

"You know what's changed."

Kris quieted for a moment. "Bruce, that was over a year ago. I want to go back to how we were before when I came with you to anything and everything. I'll be okay, I promise."

"You're not going to let this go, are you?"

"Of course not."

"Fine."

"I knew you'd see it my way."

"You're so manipulative."

"You're one to talk."

* * *

"Hey, Karly!" Clark called as he stepped into her apartment.

"Give me a second, I'll be right out!" Karly called back from the bathroom.

Clark knew better than to waltz right in this time.

The bathroom door opened and Karly stepped out. "What's up?"

"I got assigned to write about Lex Luthor's gala tomorrow night, and I have a plus one. Want to come with?"

Karly scoffed. "You think that a female can ready for a gala with one day's notice?"

Clark wasn't sure if that was a yes or a no.

"Yeah, sure, why not? I've got a dress tucked away I got for a benefit a few years ago that has only been out of the closet once."

"So that's a yes."

"Yes, it's a yes," she said as she lightly tapped his forehead. "Should be fun."


	4. Chapter 4

The next night, Clark arrived at Karly's apartment to pick her up for the gala. She took his breath away when she opened the door. She had dressed in a burgundy gown with off-the-shoulder straps. Silver sequins went around her waist and across the neckline. She had curled her hair and styled it so it all rested over her left shoulder.

"Wow," he said quietly. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you. You look very handsome yourself."

"Shall we?"

Karly smiled as she took his extended arm.

Meanwhile at Bruce Wayne's house, Kris stepped out of the bathroom as she finished putting on her earrings.

"Hey, can you zip me up?" she asked.

Bruce came over to her and zipped up the back of her long-sleeved black gown. "Is there any way I can talk you out of not going tonight?"

Kris turned around and put her hands to his chest. "You worry too much. What's the worst that could happen at a party like this?"

Bruce smirked, recalling how the Joker had thrown her off the roof at a party very similar to the one they were going to. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

"Relax. I'll have you remember that you helped me practice self-defense for several years now. I wouldn't say I'm the next MMA fighter, but I am capable of defending myself."

"I just don't want anything to happen to you."

"Keeping me locked away in this house is not going to help. That's just paranoia." She gave him a gentle kiss. "Come on, we're going to be late."

"Bruce Wayne is never late."

Kris started to head out to the car.

"Hey, Kris?"

Kris turned back around.

"You look stunning, by the way."

She smiled broadly. "Thank you."

This was the first party Kris was attending ever since that day in Metropolis. He was really, _really_ against her going, but he had to admit…his wife was so hot. They had been married for ten years and she still made him weak at the knees.

* * *

Karly and Clark pulled up to the gala and parked in the lot reserved for members of the press. Then they both walked towards the red carpeted entrance.

"Karly, I have to cover things out here, so why don't you head inside?" Clark told her.

"Yeah, sure," Karly answered. "I'll see you in a bit."

She gently kissed him and started to go in. However, before she could get inside the doors, her attention was drawn to the new arrival when all the photographers and newspaper writers scrambled to get the person's attention.

"Who's that?" Clark asked the photographer next to him.

"You must be new to the 'let-them-eat-cake' beat," the man answered. "That is Bruce Wayne and his wife."

Clark and Karly watched as none other than Bruce Wayne himself stepped out of the vehicle followed by an older woman in a beautiful black dress. The woman took Bruce's arm and they walked inside together.

Karly wondered if it was difficult to always be in the spotlight. Bruce was probably used to it by now since he had been famous since birth, but was it hard on his wife?

From the way they looked at one another, she guessed that they were head over heels in love, so Mrs. Wayne probably didn't care as long as she got to be with him.

Not long after Bruce's arrival, all of the press members went inside to cover the actual event. Clark rejoined Karly as a blonde woman stepped up onto the stage with a microphone to introduce the man of the hour.

"Philanthropist. Bibliophile. True friend of the library of Metropolis. Mr. Lex Luthor."

Everyone politely applauded as they looked towards the back of the room where the man made his entrance.

"Me?" Lex asked in mock surprise. "Ah, okay." He quickly made his way up to the stage and hugged the blonde. "Nicky. You're embarrassing me."

Kris noticed Bruce's gaze linger on a brunette woman wearing a dark red dress standing in front of them. While she knew that Bruce would sometimes stare at other women in public in order to continue putting on his unsuspecting playboy image so people wouldn't believe he could be Batman, this seemed different. Something about the woman made Kris feel like she should know who she was.

However, she was more focused on the fact that a psychopath had made his appearance. She was a little put off by the fact that he had hair. No way was he going to have that hair for long. Lex Luthor was always bald.

Lex took the microphone from Nicky. "Speech. Speech. Uh, blah blah blah. Uh, open bar. The end."

The guests laughed a little. Both Karly and Kris, unaware of each other's presence, stared at him in confusion.

"The word 'philanthropist' comes from the Greek. Meaning a lover of humanity. It was coined about 2,500 years ago…"

Bruce lightly tapped Kris on the back. "I'll be right back," he whispered.

"I'll cover for you," she answered without looking away from the stage.

Karly noticed Clark's eyebrows furrow as he turned around.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Not sure…"

Karly looked in the same direction and noticed Bruce Wayne discreetly leaving the room towards the back. Did he think he was too good to listen to all of this?

She shouldn't be so quick to judge. Maybe he was just looking for a bathroom.

If she was being honest, she wished she could make an exit too until this painful speech was over. Eloquence was certainly not one of this man's skills.

"Gods and men," Lex continued. "Prometheus went with us. And he ruined Zeus' plan to destroy mankind and for that, he was given a thunderbolt." He imitated a thunderbolt striking down. "Hm. That seems unfair."

"What do Prometheus and Zeus have to do with all this?" Karly whispered.

"No idea," Clark replied. "I've yet to get a quote I can actually use for this article."

Kris wondered if Bruce was getting along okay with hacking Lex's computer. He had Alfred talking him through it, so he was probably fine. Even if Bruce always wanted to be Batman more than he wanted to be himself.

She kind of wished she'd gone with him. Listening to Lex was making her head hurt as she tried to follow his long-winded paths and non sequiturs. But knowing how crazy he was, she wanted to be able to keep tabs on him and learn more about this particular universe's version of the infamous villain. Besides, if she and Bruce left the room together, people might think all kinds of things.

Of course, people would also think all kinds of things with him leaving on his own. There were always ridiculous rumors surrounding the couple. It came with living the life of a billionaire.

She loved Bruce with all her heart, but if there was one thing she despised about their marriage, it was the serious lack of privacy. They couldn't go a hundred feet on the street without someone snapping a picture and coming up with a fancy headline about how their marriage was doomed to fail.

The longer Lex went on with whatever nonsense he was spewing, the more all of the guests wanted him to wrap it up.

"Books are knowledge," Lex went on. "And knowledge is power. And I am…" He laughed nervously. "No. Uh, um…No, what am I…I…what was I saying? No."

Karly released a breath of air. "Is this almost over?"

"I sure hope so," Clark said.

"The bittersweet pain among men is having knowledge with no power. Because…because that is _paradoxical_! And um…" He laughed nervously again. "Thank you for coming. Please, drink, drink!"

Scattered applause sounded from the guests who were most likely applauding that the speech was over rather than the speech itself.

Bruce reentered the room, and Kris quickly came over to him. "Please never leave my side again."

Bruce laughed. "I guess I didn't miss anything huge then."

"Only the worst and most awkward speech I have ever heard in my life."

Bruce looked over and made eye contact with the red-adorned woman again. He started towards her until someone started calling his name.

"Mr. Wayne. Mr. Wayne."

Bruce looked over to find a glasses-wearing dork holding out his hand for him to shake. A very pretty young woman dressed in a burgundy dress stood by his side.

"Clark Kent, _Daily Planet_ ," the nerd introduced.

Beside Bruce, Kris internally freaked just a tad. She was standing in front of none other than Superman!

Not that anyone could know she knew that.

Luckily for her, she had gotten a lot better about holding in her inner teenage fangirl.

"Oh, my foundation has already issued a statement in support of, uh, books," Bruce said.

"Sir?"

The woman in red passed by again and Bruce stared after her, feeling something off about her.

"Bruce, be polite," Kris said as she lightly hit him on the arm.

"Sorry. Bad habit."

Karly frowned. Did he always stare after other women when he was already married? How did this lovely woman possibly deal with that? Was their marriage not as fairytale as it seemed?

"What's your position on the Bat vigilante in Gotham?" Clark asked quite bluntly.

Awkward silence stretched between the four of them for a few seconds.

Kris sighed a little. He just had to go there.

Finally, Bruce smirked, " _Daily Planet_. Wait, do I own this one? Or is that the other guy?"

"Civil liberties are being trampled on in your city. Good people are living in fear."

Bruce lost his sarcastic behavior. "Don't believe everything you hear, son."

"I've seen it, Mr. Wayne. He thinks he's above the law."

 _Well, this is unfortunate_ , Kris thought. Weren't Superman and Batman supposed to be really good friends? Instead, Superman was acting like a pious jerk pretending he knew everything there is to know about vigilantism. His opinion might change if he actually ever spent a night in Gotham City.

"The _Daily Planet_ criticizing those who think they're above the law is a little hypocritical, wouldn't you say?" Bruce asked suavely. "Considering every time your hero saves a cat out of a tree, you write a puff piece editorial about an alien who, if he wanted to, could burn the whole place down. There wouldn't be a thing we could do to stop him."

 _Oh, perfect, my husband is getting on his case too_.

Karly tried to suppress all of the things she wanted to say to this Bruce Wayne character. Superman happened to be a wonderful superhero who at least didn't torture people to get information out of them.

Though he did have a point. Clark did have some incredible powers that could wipe out the human race. It was only natural to be wary of him if one didn't really know him.

"Most of the world doesn't share your opinion, Mr. Wayne," Clark said icily.

"Maybe it's the Gotham City in me. We just have a bad history with freaks dressed like clowns."

Though Karly was furious at the statement, she noticed Mrs. Wayne's eyes darken and she couldn't help but wonder why.

Suddenly, her eyes brightened again and she reached her hand out. "Hi, I'm Kristina Wayne, Bruce's wife."

"Um, Karly Mathis, Clark's girlfriend."

Kris made sure her expression didn't change, but she was surprised. Wasn't Clark's love interest supposed to be Lois Lane? Or at least it should be Lana Lang if not Lois. She had never heard of Karly Mathis before in any adaptation.

On the other hand, no adaptation of Batman had a Kristina Wayne née Jacobson either. Perhaps in this universe, everyone had different love interests than what was canon.

"It's lovely to meet you," Kris smiled. "Would you like to get a drink?"

"I'd love that."

The two women went over to the bar and away from the very awkward and suffocating environment.

"I apologize for my husband," Kris said.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about Clark, too."

"I had no idea things were going to get so tense between them."

"Well, Clark is a good friend of Superman, so it's hard to listen to someone insult him."

 _Good friend, my butt,_ Kris thought. "I don't know much about Superman, but I would think he's a good guy."

"Do you agree with him? Your husband, I mean."

Kris sighed. "Karly…you have to understand that Metropolis isn't like Gotham. Over half of the cops on the force are crooked and/or work for the mob. It's impossible to trust anyone. Honestly, Batman is the only way we can get anything done. I don't agree with everything he does, and I will admit he's gotten more vicious recently, but we always know which side he's on."

Karly nodded a little. She made a good point. Who was she to judge about somewhere she had never lived? She had heard that Gotham could be a pretty rough city to live in. Maybe the only reason Batman did what he did was because he didn't have a choice in such a seedy and unforgiving place.

"Not only that, but he's saved my life on several occasions which certainly makes me trust him."

Karly laughed lightly. "Yeah, it's the same with me and Superman."

 _I bet it is_.

"He's the same way. Look…in the Battle of Metropolis two years ago, the papers didn't print the whole story. Superman was battling Zod and then Zod threatened to kill me and another family. In order to save us, he had to kill Zod. Which meant he was killing the only living being left of his race. I mean…he had to have felt more alone than ever."

 _Except he has you_.

She couldn't say that since she wasn't supposed to know Karly's boyfriend was Superman. She wondered if Karly herself knew. In some adaptations, Clark never told his significant other about his superhero persona.

Kris sighed again. "There's a reason why Bruce is not Superman's biggest fan. The both of us were in Metropolis during the whole fight with Zod because Bruce owns several businesses there and wanted to make sure his employees got out safely."

"That's really considerate of him."

"Bruce may come across as many things, but he does care about the people who work for him. Anyway, while we were looking for and assisting survivors…some debris from one of the buildings crushed me. I was in a coma for six months."

Karly's eyes widened.

"No one thought I was going to make it…but Bruce refused to pull the plug on me. Obviously, I eventually woke up and I had to go through intense physical therapy and rehabilitation. But…the whole thing really tore Bruce up. And he lays a lot of the blame on Superman for destroying the city in the first place. I know it wasn't all his fault, but when the life of the one you love most is in danger, you don't really think rationally."

"Mrs. Wayne…I'm terribly sorry."

"Please, call me Kris."

"Kris?"

"I like it better than Kristina."

"I'm glad you're okay now."

Kris smiled a little. "So…cut him some slack. It's just a really personal thing for him."

Karly nodded a little. As she watched Kris leave to return to Bruce's side, she couldn't imagine what it would be like to watch your spouse lying in a bed wondering if you would ever hear their voice again.

Bruce left the intense and awkward conversation with Clark and Lex and met Kris halfway. Kris politely took his arm like the exemplary wife, and they headed off in another direction.

Clark started to follow after them.

"What is it?" Karly asked as she walked up to him.

"I'm not completely sure. There's something off about those two. Someone is feeding Mr. Wayne information from somewhere else."

"Why would he need to do that?"

"Probably not for any good reason."

"Do you think Mrs. Wayne knows?"

"I would think so, but I'm not positive."

Clark and Karly started to follow after the famous married couple down a long set of stairs.

In the electronics room where Bruce had planted his hacking device, he realized with great dismay that someone had taken it.

When he looked out through the glass door, he once again met eyes with the woman in red.

Bruce quickly left the room to see her going back up the stairs. "Excuse me!"

He and Kris followed after her, but she was nowhere in sight. They made it outside the building just in time to see the woman smirk at them before getting into her car and zooming off.

Before Clark could figure out the reason they had all come to the bottom level of the building, his attention was drawn to the TV in the staff kitchen. A news report showed that a fire had broken out in Mexico during the Day of the Dead celebration. The camera showed a poor girl trapped in the burning building with no one to rescue her.

Karly looked over at Clark and nodded her head.

Without a word, Clark took off.

In barely thirty seconds, Superman appeared on the TV screen. He quickly pulled the girl from the building and gently held her in his arms as he flew down to safety, the flaming building crumbling behind him.

He carried the girl back to her mother and set her down onto the ground. The crowd, many of them dressed in skeleton costumes for the Mexican holiday, touched Superman in reverence and gratitude. Several of them burst into tears in relief.

Karly smiled a little.

 _That's my boyfriend_.


	5. Chapter 5

"Is it really surprising that the most powerful man in the world should be a figure of controversy?" Charlie Rose asked in an interview.

"To have an individual engaging in these state-level interventions should give us all pause," the no-nonsense senator June Finch answered.

"Are you, as a United States Senator, personally comfortable saying to a grieving parent, 'Superman could have saved your child, but on principle, we did not want him to act'?"

"I'm not saying he shouldn't act. I'm saying he shouldn't act unilaterally."

"What are we talking about here, then? Must there be a Superman?"

"There is."

The TV abruptly cut off.

Clark looked up to find the remote in Karly's hand.

"Why are you watching this garbage?" she asked as she set the remote down on the table.

Clark sighed as he rubbed his forehead with his fingers.

Karly took a seat on the couch next to him. "No matter what you do, not everyone is going to be on your side. Especially not when it comes to politics. Why senators feel they need to even get involved is beyond me. The important thing is doing what you know is right regardless of what people say."

"That's just it, Karly. What if what I'm doing…really is questionable?"

"What are you talking about? I watch you save a ton of lives on a daily basis. What's questionable about that?"

"Well, you told me about what happened to Mrs. Wayne."

"That was Zod's fault, and you know that. Mrs. Wayne doesn't even blame you for any of it. If Zod hadn't gone completely crazy, none of that would've happened."

"Maybe I could've done things differently. Gotten him outside of the city to fight him."

"Zod wanted to cause destruction, and he wanted to cause you pain. And from the looks of it, it's working even after he died. Now, I don't blame you for having mixed feelings about killing him. I'm sure that wasn't an easy choice. But it wouldn't have mattered if you had gotten him out of the city. He would've just gone right back in order to hurt you."

Clark knew she was probably right, but it didn't really make him feel any better.

"This Batman guy is out of control," he told her. "He brands criminals which results in other inmates killing them when they get to the prison. He's playing judge, jury, and executioner. Where's the justice in that?"

Karly sighed. "I don't know. But Mrs. Wayne did have a point. Gotham isn't like Metropolis. I don't justify all the things he does, but maybe the only way they can catch criminals is to have someone like him."

* * *

Bruce managed to track down the mysterious woman from Lex's gala at an antique show. So while Bruce went after her, Kris listened in over her headset down in the cave.

He patiently waited for a rich man to finish showing off one of his wares.

"It's the Sword of Alexander," the man explained. "It's the blade that cut the Gordian Knot. It's a triumph."

"Yes," the woman said with a hint of disinterest.

"Enjoy."

"Thank you."

Bruce walked up from behind her. "It's a fake. The real one was sold in '98 on the black market. And now it hangs—"

"—over the bed of the Sultan of Hajar," the woman finished for him. She turned and gave him a thin smile. "Excuse me."

The woman started to walk away, but Bruce grabbed her by the arm. "Excuse me, miss. The other night, you took something that doesn't belong to you. Stealing's not polite."

"Is it stealing if you steal from another thief?"

"She's got you there," Kris said into the headset.

"Who are you?" Bruce asked the woman.

"Someone interested in the same man you are," the woman answered.

"Is that right?"

"I believe Mr. Luthor has a photograph that belongs to me."

"Did you get it?"

"As it happens, no, I didn't. The data you copied has military-grade encryption."

She tried to walk away again, but once more, Bruce grabbed her before she could escape. "You know, I bet with that dress, 9 out of 10 men will let you get away with anything."

"But you're the 10th? Makes sense with that beautiful wife of yours."

"Aw, she thinks I'm beautiful," Kris remarked.

Bruce fought a smile. Most of the time, Kris only said important things through the headset, but every now and then when the stakes weren't high, she put in random commentary to try to throw him off. He was pretty sure it was payback for not letting her come with him to events.

"I guess I'm the first to see through that babe-in-the-woods act. You don't know me, but I've known a few women like you."

"Oh, I don't think you've ever known a woman like me. You know, it's true what they say about little boys. Born with no natural inclination to share. I didn't steal your drive. I borrowed it. You'll find it in the glove compartment of your car. Mr. Wayne."

The woman waltzed off into the crowd.

By this point, Kris knew this woman was someone important. She couldn't figure out who she was because she didn't have a name yet, but soon enough, she was sure she could put the pieces together.

As she listened in, she also did some more research on this universe's Lex Luthor so she could be more prepared should she ever have to face him. She was very surprised to find that his grandfather's name was Lionel Luthor while his father's name was Alexander as well. It appeared she was dealing with a Lex Jr. rather than Lex Luthor the original.

What a rip-off.

* * *

 _Batman exited a bunker and used binoculars to survey the dusty, deserted terrain._

 _Multiple trucks drove through the place and several men hopped out to join Batman._

 _He approached the back of one of the trucks. "Did you get it? The rock?"_

 _A man stood inside the truck. "Yeah, we got it."_

 _Batman hopped inside and walked towards the back where a box labeled 'LexCorp' sat. The man opened it and it emitted a green glow._

 _However, when he looked inside, all that was there was a couple of green lightbulbs._

 _The man cocked a gun and pointed it at him. "I'm sorry."_

 _Stormtroopers revealed themselves amongst the crowds. All of them wore shoulder patches resembling Superman's insignia._

 _Outside the truck, all the other soldiers shot down the ones working with Batman._

 _"_ _No!" Batman yelled with rage._

 _He took out a gun and shot the man inside the truck before stealing his firearm. Then he exited the truck and began shooting and killing every single stormtrooper he could._

 _Flying alien-like creatures began to swarm the area and pick off all the men who had proven their loyalty to Batman._

 _With no other aid, the stormtroopers overwhelmed Batman. Suddenly, one of the creatures punched him on the back of the head and knocked him out._

 _When Batman came to, he realized he had been chained up inside the bunker. Chained up next to him were the remaining allies the creatures hadn't yet killed._

 _Superman landed inside the bunker, and the guarding stormtroopers obediently kneeled before him._

 _The alien slowly approached Batman with malice written on his face. His eyes glowed red, and he quickly killed all of the other men chained up._

 _Batman began breathing shallowly. Despite all his skills, he was still very much human going against someone with supernatural abilities. He didn't have a prayer._

 _Superman glared at him as he roughly ripped off his mask and deposited it onto the sand._

 _"_ _She was my world," Superman growled. "And you took her from me."_

 _Bruce glared back at him._

 _"_ _And now…I'm going to take yours."_

 _He held up his hand, and another stormtrooper dragged a screaming Kris into the bunker._

 _"_ _Kristina…" Bruce whispered._

 _The stormtrooper threw her onto the sand. Superman walked over to Bruce's wife. Tears had made tracks through the dirt on her face._

 _"_ _Please, don't," she begged to the alien. "Don't do this."_

 _Superman glared down at her. Then he forced her to stand up and face her husband._

 _"_ _Bruce," she said through her terrified sobs. "I love you."_

 _In one fast move, Superman shoved his hand through her chest._

 _Bruce cried out as her agonizing screams reached his ears._

* * *

Bruce bolted upright back in the Batcave.

"Whoa!" Kris exclaimed in surprise. She gently set a tray on the table next to him. "You fell asleep down here so I was just bringing a cup of tea for when you woke up."

Bruce looked over at her for a minute before springing out of his chair and kissing her firmly on the lips.

"You okay?" Kris asked softly when he pulled away.

"Yeah…I'm fine."

"You had another nightmare. Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"No, I'm good."

Kris sighed. She couldn't understand why he wouldn't just tell her what was wrong with him. They were husband and wife. They had always shared everything. What was so different about now?

Bruce returned to his seat at the computer and fiddled through the program he had stolen while at Lex's gala.

A picture popped up onto the screen of a large ship.

Kris came up behind him and looked at the picture. "Isn't that…?"

The two of them went to the area of the Batcave where Bruce kept his new-and-improved

model of the Batmobile. Alfred had it propped open as he tinkered with it.

"The _White Portuguese_ is not a man," Bruce told him. "It's a ship."

"Master Wayne, since the age of 7, you have been to the art of deception as Mozart to the harpsichord. But you've never been too hot at lying to me." He turned to face Bruce. "The _White Portuguese_ isn't carrying a dirty bomb. What is it carrying?"

"It's a weapon. It's a rock. A mineral capable of weakening Kryptonian cells."

 _Kryptonite_ , Kris thought.

"The first sample big enough to mean something turned up in the Indian Ocean three months ago. It is now aboard the _White Portuguese_ being delivered to Lex Luthor. Who I am going to steal it from."

"To keep it out of Luthor's hands. To destroy it."

"No."

Alfred took a step closer to him. "You're gonna go to war?"

"That freak brought the war to us two years ago. Count the dead. Thousands of people. What about the injured whose lives are never going to be the same? What's next? Millions? He has the power to wipe out the entire human race and if we believe there is even a 1% chance that he is our enemy, we have to take it as an absolute certainty. And we have to destroy him."

"Wait a minute," Kris interjected. "You can't be serious."

"He is not our enemy," Alfred added.

"Not today," Bruce answered coldly. "Twenty years in Gotham, Alfred. We've seen what promises are worth. How many good guys are left. How many stayed that way."

As Bruce walked off, Kris quickly followed after him. "Hold on a second. You seriously plan on killing off Superman?"

"I don't have a choice."

"Oh, do not even give me that. Bruce, this guy has saved a ton of people over the last two years, and probably even more before that. He's a good guy. You're going to treat him like an enemy based on what you've got which is basically nothing?"

"I will not take a chance on anything like what happened in Metropolis to all those people happening again."

Kris walked in front of him which forced him to stop. "You look me in the eye and tell me that this is not a personal vendetta."

Bruce looked at her hardly before walking past her.

Kris released a breath of air. She knew he was torn up about what had happened to her in Metropolis, but she never guessed that he would go this far.

Over the years, the one rule he fought so hard to keep had become more and more muddied and now the line had blurred far too much for him.

She could not let this happen, or he would regret it for the rest of his life.


	6. Chapter 6

Kris listened over the headset to Batman's attempts to steal the kryptonite from the _White Portuguese_ while watching the action on the various monitors in front of her.

She highly disapproved of Bruce's decision, but she wasn't about to let him go out as Batman without her. If something happened to him, she wanted to be the first to know so she could get help as soon as possible.

Realizing the deadly rock was being transported to another location, Batman bolted away from the place in the Batmobile.

To Kris's shock, Superman appeared as Bruce tightly rounded a corner. The car hit him, but it just bounced off his body and flew into the wall.

Superman walked over to the car and ripped the roof off.

 _Does he know how much it's going to cost to fix that?_ Kris thought.

Superman glared down at Bruce. "Next time they shine your light in the sky, don't go to it. The Bat is dead. Bury it. Consider this mercy."

 _I'm not so sure I like this version of Superman._

"Tell me," Batman growled. "Do you bleed?"

Superman flew off into the air.

Batman stared after him. "You will."

Kris rolled her eyes. She much preferred when Batman and Superman were best friends.

Alfred came down into the cave with a tray of tea and snacks for her.

"Thanks," she said quietly. She sighed heavily and looked over at him. "I don't know what else to do, Alfred. He just won't talk to me anymore. I know you and I always had our differences over Bruce becoming Batman in the first place, and now, as much as it pains me to say, I think I finally understand why. He's become so…ruthless. He's basically doing everything short of outright murdering people."

Alfred looked at her sadly then looked up at the monitors. "It's what I had feared would happen. I believe most of the reason he hasn't completely fallen into the abyss is because of you."

"I don't know how much longer I can keep him from waltzing towards the edge."

"I suppose we'll just have to keep a sharper eye on him and always be there to pull him back."

Shortly after the incredibly overdramatic conversation between Batman and Superman, Bruce returned to the Batcave.

Wordlessly, Kris pushed some buttons on the computer and pulled up a map of the city which searched for the transponder Bruce had put on the transport truck the kryptonite had been on. It revealed the location to be LexCorp Research Park.

"Bruce, I strongly encourage you to reconsider," Kris said without looking at him. "Take the meteor rock, but only use it when necessary."

"So I'm supposed to wait for people to get killed before I decide to use it? The only solution is to eradicate the cause before there's even a problem."

"I will not help you destroy him. You're on your own."

"How can you say this after what he did to you?"

"He did nothing to me! What happened to me was a result of a fight! Don't stand there and tell me that in all of the battles you've been in, there was no collateral damage! And if you've forgotten, please allow me to show you some footage from tonight."

"He's an alien! His collateral damage could kill the planet!"

Kris scoffed and walked away. She knew that when he was like this, there was no getting through to him. She hadn't been able to get through to him for 18 months.

* * *

Karly flipped on the TV as she prepared to leave for work. To her dismay, June Finch had returned along with a man in a wheelchair positioned next to her.

"How do we determine what's good?" the senator said. "In a democracy, good is a conversation, not a unilateral decision. So I urge Superman to come to this Hill of the People tomorrow to see those who have suffered. The world needs to know what happened in that desert. And to know what he stands for. How far will he take his power? Does he act by our will or by his own?"

Karly sighed heavily. That stupid desert incident was ruining everything. She disliked Lois Lane more than ever which was saying something because she had never been a huge fan of the woman considering she had almost died because of her two years ago. The reporter just couldn't keep her nose out of things she shouldn't be getting into, and her boyfriend was paying the price for it.

Why did June Finch have to make this whole thing political anyway?

She wished people could see Clark for the wonderful person he was and not for the powerful things he could do.

She quickly pulled out her cell phone and called him.

"Hello?"

"Are you going?" she asked bluntly.

"To this hearing you mean?"

"Yes."

"I don't know."

"Clark, this is ridiculous. You don't have to prove anything. What happened in the desert was not your fault and you know it."

"Maybe if I go…they'll understand."

"Do what you feel is best. I'll support you no matter what."

* * *

Kris had previously worked at Wayne Enterprises as Lucius Fox's personal assistant. After his death, she had been promoted to work directly under Bruce. Most of the time, that was a good thing seeing as they got a lot done when they worked together. They really were the ultimate husband-and-wife duo.

However, today, things were icier than ever.

Bruce and Kris were in the meeting room with one of their employees preparing to meet with some clients when a broadcast filled each TV screen behind them.

"Mr. Keefe," one of the reporters called to a man in a wheelchair. "Mr. Keefe. Soledad O'Brien, _In the Moment_. Quick question for you. You're heading in to meet with the senators. What will you tell them?"

Kris's eyes widened when she recognized the man. It was Wallace. The same Wallace Bruce and Kris had pulled out of the wreckage in Metropolis. The same Wallace who had cried over and over that he couldn't feel his legs.

Those legs were gone.

"Bruce," she said quietly.

Bruce turned and looked at the screens.

"Um, I've come here to tell them to wake up. This is flesh and blood. He has delivered a war here. And this…" Wallace pointed to his missing legs. "This is what war looks like. I have nothing."

"There are plenty of people, sir, who would say he's their hero."

"He is _not_ a hero!"

With his eyes glued to the screens, Bruce bit out, "Grace, can you get Greg up here please? Right now."

A few minutes later, one of the HR members nervously rushed into the meeting room with a stack of papers.

"Greg, why hasn't he been getting our checks?" Bruce demanded.

"He is, Mr. Wayne," Greg answered. "He gets a check from the Victims Fund every month. He returns them."

Bruce flipped through the papers which all had red ink on them reading, 'BRUCE WAYNE, OPEN YOUR EYES', 'B. WAYNE, I AM YOUR GHOST', 'WAYNE WON'T WIN', 'BRUCE, NO TRUCE', 'B. WAYNE, I HAUNT YOU', 'BRUCE WAYNE=BLIND'.

And that was just the beginning of the stack.

"Why haven't I seen this?" Bruce asked.

"I'm sorry. I'll get to the bottom of it."

A mix of praises and jeers sounded from the TV. Bruce and Kris looked back at the screens and saw Superman hanging in the air above the Capitol.

"And there he is," Soledad announced. "Superman is here. He's actually at the United States Capitol. This is really a historic moment. Now we expect that Superman will give some kind of a statement to the Senate, to the American people, and of course, to the world."

Kris sighed. This whole thing was not helping her convince Bruce that Superman needed to live. If anything, it was only strengthening his desire to end him.

Greg re-entered the room and handed Bruce an envelope. "Another one came this morning, Mr. Wayne."

* * *

Karly pushed through the crowd of people who had arrived at the hearing. Some of them wore Superman t-shirts to express their adoration while others held signs expressing their hatred.

She watched the man she loved fly down and land directly in front of the Capitol building.

"Clark," she said softly, impossible to be heard over all the shouting around her. She noticed him pause but he didn't turn around. "I'm sorry this is happening to you. But I will always be your biggest supporter. I know who you really are. And I love you. No matter what anyone else says or does, I will always love you."

Superman continued walking into the building.

Karly could only stand and wait for him to come back out.

* * *

Bruce changed one of the TV screens to the televised hearing inside the Capitol while the rest remained on the news station.

He and Kris watched as Superman entered the room. Kris could feel Bruce radiating anger towards the alien. She hoped the two of them cleared the air sooner rather than later. This was just painful. She hated seeing her husband so upset, especially when this could all be cleared if they just sat down and talked to one another.

Superman slowly approached the podium as everyone in the room took their seats.

"Let me say at the outset that I am grateful to our witness for coming before us today," June Finch addressed. "This is how a democracy works. We talk to each other. We act by the consent of the governed, sir. I have sat here before to say that shadow interventions will not be tolerated by this Committee. Neither will lies. Because today is a day for truth. Because only by speaking—"

The senator abruptly stopped talking when she noticed something on her desk. However, due to the position of the cameras, Kris didn't know what she was looking at.

"Only by working…together can we…"

Whatever was on her desk had rendered the usually smooth-talking senator very nervous. Kris leaned in closer. If something made this very confident woman anxious, it should be enough to give everyone serious pause.

"…can we…can we…"

Her eyes darted down to the mysterious object on her desk. She reached out to touch it.

"…can we create a free, and a…"

She quickly took her hand away from the object as if it had burned her and whipped her head out to look at those seated in front of her. She took a shuddering breath.

And then the Capitol exploded.

Kris cried out in surprise as she jumped back from the screen, putting her hand to her mouth. The entire room had gone up in flames in addition to most of the rest of the building.

The screen in the Capitol went black while the cameras positioned outside shook with panic and disbelief.

Kris couldn't believe what she was seeing. What kind of monster would do something like this?

She already knew the answer to that.

Bruce opened the envelope Greg had given him. Inside it was a newspaper clipping from the Battle of Metropolis when Wayne Tower had been destroyed.

Written across the article in red ink were the words, 'YOU LET YOUR FAMILY DIE'.

Bruce balled up the newspaper clipping and threw it on the ground before storming out of the conference room.

"Bruce," Kris called after him.

He didn't listen to her. She turned back to the TV screens. All those innocent people who would never go home to their families…

She may be dealing with Lex Jr., but it was clear that he was just as dangerous as the original.

* * *

Karly anxiously paced around in her apartment. She hadn't seen Clark leave the Capitol building, but she knew there was a reason for that. With all of the bad publicity surrounding him lately, some people thought he was responsible for the bombing.

It didn't mean she wasn't worried about him. She would never forget the feeling of being right outside when the Capitol had gone up.

News reports started saying that the man in the wheelchair, Wallace Keefe, had had the bomb hidden inside his chair. She knew Wallace had been upset, but she didn't think he would go so far as to blow everyone up, including himself.

But…maybe it hadn't been his idea…

A quiet thud sounded outside on her apartment balcony. She turned and saw a familiar blue suit.

"Clark!" she exclaimed. She rushed outside and threw her arms around him in relief. "I'm so happy you're all right." When she pulled away, she finally saw the distraught look on his face. "Physically, anyway."

"I didn't see it, Karly," he said softly. "I was standing right there and I didn't see it."

"Why would you? No one walks into a room and immediately surveys for a bomb. He was scanned by a ton of detectors and even they didn't pick it up."

"That's just it. I'm afraid I didn't see it because I wasn't looking. All this time, I've been living my life the way my father saw it. Righting wrongs for a ghost. Thinking I'm here to do good. Superman was never real. Just a dream of a farmer from Kansas."

"Stop," Karly said gently as she put her hands on his arms. "I can't tell you the reason you were sent here. But using your incredible abilities to do good seems like a good enough reason to me. Superman is real because you created him and you _made_ him real." She lightly touched the symbol on his chest. "You once told me that this meant hope."

"It did on my world. My world doesn't exist anymore."

"Clark…"

Clark stepped back and flew off the balcony.

Karly scoffed. "Oh, you did not just do that." She went over to the railing and looked up. "You don't get to act all angsty and then just fly away from me when we're in the middle of a conversation!"

Feeling eyes on her, Karly looked to her right and saw her two neighbors out on the balcony beside hers staring at her. She gave them an awkward smile before rushing back inside her apartment.


	7. Chapter 7

Kris went down inside the Batcave where Bruce was in the middle of some serious muscle training. Under normal circumstances, she could watch him train for hours. Who could deny watching those gorgeous muscles in all their glory?

But knowing that he was training to kill one of her favorite superheroes kind of took the fun out of it.

She went over to the small case he had placed the stolen kryptonite in.

After what had happened at the Capitol, Bruce had immediately geared up and gone after the mineral in Lex's possession. While he hadn't outright killed anyone, he certainly had not taken any prisoners. Footage revealed on the news showed it to be just short of a massacre. Multiple people had been wheeled out on gurneys to go to the hospital to get their various wounds treated.

It was one of those moments she truly understood how far Bruce had fallen since their return to Gotham. She had always supported his decision to come back, but she hadn't expected him to change so drastically. Of course, she knew the majority of the reason for his brutality was because of her. If she had just been more careful that day in Metropolis, she wouldn't have gotten hurt and Bruce wouldn't be so dead set against Superman's abilities.

She reached inside the case and gently pulled the glowing green rock out. It was amazing how something so small could cause so much damage to someone. This thing could wipe out Superman in a matter of minutes if used right. And no matter how long it took, the whole process would be excruciating.

She was tempted to throw the rock against the wall and shatter it so Bruce couldn't use it. He would be furious with her, but it wouldn't be anything she couldn't handle.

However, even some adaptations had Batman hang on to a small stash of kryptonite just in case Clark ever went nuts for some reason which wasn't completely out of the realm of possibility. If red kryptonite ever showed itself, they would really need some of the green stuff on hand.

She sighed heavily as she returned it inside the case.

She was pretty sure Bruce had already begun making kryptonite-based weapons, so destroying the rock now would be pointless anyway.

Kris went over to the computers and took a seat. She looked over to make sure that Bruce was still training before pulling up all the files on the drive he had stolen from Lex.

One of the files was marked 'Meta Human Research'. She opened it up and found four folders with detailed pictures and security footage each surrounding one particular individual.

Despite her current circumstances, Kris's heart skipped a beat in excitement.

She clicked on the folder with a 'W' and pulled up one of the documents. It was a picture of the woman from Lex's party who had stolen Lex's drive before Bruce could get his hands on it. She was with four other men, and the date was marked 1918. However, what drew her attention was not the strange date but the outfit she had donned in the photo.

"Wonder Woman," Kris muttered under her breath with a small smile.

She knew that woman had been important.

Kris clicked on the file with a fancy 'C'. An African-American man switched on the camera as a wall turned behind him revealing a partial human body.

"2400 hours and 2 minutes," the man stated for the record. "Subject declining rapidly. All procedural interventions have failed. Outcome…would be death."

Various clips showed the man weary and frustrated as he attempted to perform all of his experiments on the pieces hanging from the turning wall.

The clip switched to him in casual wear with a large black box placed on his desk. "Dr. Silas Stone suspending all clinical protocol. US Gov object 6-19-82 is successfully activated."

The black box glowed and moved over to the human on the wall. With blasts of electricity, the human began to grow mechanical legs to fit with his human torso. He started screaming in agony as the additions grew.

"Cyborg…"

She opened the next folder with a picture of a lightning bolt. The first file inside was security footage from a convenience store. A man approached the counter and held the cashier at gunpoint.

Meanwhile, a black-haired young man who looked like he needed a job got a jug of milk out of the refrigerator when his attention was drawn to the robbery. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared for barely a second in the same amount of time the robber got knocked down. The cameras went nuts with small bolts of electricity while the black-haired man just looked completely nonchalant.

"The Flash…"

The last folder had a fancy 'A' on it, and the first file contained footage of an exploration of a sunken ship deep in the ocean.

The camera went close to a hole in the ship, and two glowing eyes stared back at it.

To Kris's amazement, the eyes came closer and she saw they belonged to a bearded man carrying a trident. The man swam out of the hole and rammed his trident towards the camera, breaking it.

A wide-angle camera caught the man swimming off at super-speed.

"Aquaman…"

Kris smiled a little at her discovery. She was witnessing the beginnings of the Justice League here. She had always wondered about these peoples' existences, but so much time had passed with Bruce that she had begun to doubt that the Justice League would ever form in this particular universe.

Now Bruce just had to get over this vendetta of his so he and Superman could become friends. After all, it wouldn't be the Justice League without Superman.

* * *

Karly sighed heavily as she did some more research in her office at DARPA.

She hadn't heard from Clark in several days, and though she knew he had to be fine, it still made her nervous that he had made no effort to contact her. It also frustrated her that he felt he couldn't come to her when he was having a problem and seek her for comfort.

Things had gotten worse when she had caught a newscast just this morning while getting ready for work that questioned if Superman was responsible for the bomb at the Capitol. A group of people had made a crude stuffed version of the superhero and lit it on fire while chanting "Burn him!" and holding up signs wishing for his death.

Lois had contacted her wondering if she knew where Clark was since he hadn't shown up at work in a few days. Karly had done her best to cover for him and get off the phone before Lois got too suspicious. She hated talking to Lois anyway, so wrapping up the conversation quickly wouldn't be unusual for either of them.

Wherever he went, she hoped he found what he was looking for.

"Miss Mathis?" Matt said as he knocked on the door. "I brought your lunch and coffee up for you. And I also made reservations for that business dinner in two weeks."

"Thank you, Matt," Karly replied as he set her lunch down on her desk.

He turned to leave.

"Hey, Matt," she called.

Matt turned back around. "Yes, Miss Mathis?"

"I know I don't tell you this enough, but you're a good assistant, and I really appreciate everything you do for me."

Matt smiled shyly. "Thank you, ma'am. I enjoy working for you."

"You don't have to answer this, but…what do you think about all the Superman stuff going on?"

Matt nervously fiddled with his hands. "Well, uh…I don't believe he caused the explosion at the Capitol for one thing. I think…he's a guy trying to do the right thing. That's really all there is to it. It's everyone else who's making it all so complicated."

Karly smiled sadly. "I think so too."

"Why so curious as to how _I_ feel about him?"

"Just wondering. It's nice to know we're on the same page."

"Forgive me if I'm being too invasive, but I haven't seen Clark stop by in a while."

Karly's eyes darkened, but she hoped he didn't notice. "Yeah, he's just been…really busy over at the _Daily Planet_. I'm sure he'll come by soon."

"You guys are…really cute together."

"Thank you. I know this is a weird question from your boss, but do you have your eyes on anyone?"

Matt blushed scarlet. "No, ma'am."

Karly rose her eyebrows knowingly, but she didn't continue to push the subject on her painfully shy assistant.

"If that's all you need then…"

"It is. Thanks again, Matt."

Matt left the office, and Karly began to dig into the salad he had brought up. She really appreciated having an assistant who noticed more things than just her work life. So many people were unwilling to take risks on recent college graduates due to their lack of experience, but Karly saw more potential in him than the other experienced assistants she had interviewed. He may be shy, but he was always willing to get the work done efficiently and they had only run into a couple problems throughout his employment.

He really was a great person to have in her office.

* * *

Kris slowly approached Wayne Manor. Young children ran around the front yard under the watch of one the workers.

"Miss Krissy!" one of the young girls called.

Kris smiled and knelt down as the young girl ran into her arms. "Hey, Dani."

"I missed you!"

"I missed you too. Are you having fun out here?"

"Yeah! When I get to go outside, I can fly! Like…like a bat!"

"A bat, huh?"

"Mm-hm! See?"

Dani excitedly spread out her arms and zoomed around the lawn. With a broad smile, she returned to Kris's side.

"I can fly like Mr. Batman!"

Kris smiled again. "Yes, you can. I'm sure he would be very proud of you. Has my husband walked through here?"

"Yeah! He just went up those stairs!"

"Thanks. I'll see you later, Dani, okay?"

"Okay! Bye, Miss Krissy!"

Kris waved and started up the steps to the manor.

She admired Bruce's decision to turn the place into an orphanage even if it broke her heart that so many kids were without parents. At least in the large mansion, they had plenty of room to run around.

Since Bruce's return to Gotham, the head of the orphanage insisted that Bruce and Kris were welcome to come inside the manor at any time without notice since the place was technically still their home. The kids usually greeted both of them with excitement whenever they stopped by.

Every now and then, when Bruce felt lost or needed some clarity, he would go inside and walk the halls to remember his background and why he did what he did.

Today, he stood solemnly in front of the fireplace.

Kris smiled a little as she recalled the both of them falling asleep under a blanket in front of that same fireplace.

Of course, things took a nasty turn right after that when Bruce left to go fight Bane without her knowledge, but she did cherish the moment before then.

"I'm older now than my father ever was," Bruce said quietly. "This may be the only thing I do that matters."

"I'm afraid we share different opinions on that," Kris answered as she came up next to him. "You've been fighting criminals single-handedly for years now. Does that all mean nothing?"

"Criminals are like weeds, Kristina. Pull one up, another grows in its place."

"That doesn't mean what you're doing is meaningless."

"This is about the future of the world. This is my legacy. You know, my father sat me down right here. Told me what Wayne Manor was built on. The first generation made their fortune trading with the French. Pelts and skins. They were hunters."

"Have you ever noticed that we don't _have_ to hunt like that anymore? There are so many better ways to handle this situation. Mature conversation can go a long way."

"There's no conversing with freaks like him." Bruce turned and started to walk out of the room.

"I'm still going to be on coms with you tonight."

"No, you're not even going to be in the cave tonight. You'll be in the house with Alfred. It's safer for you."

Kris put her hands to her forehead as she let out a groan. "Okay, you know what? That is it. I have had it."

Bruce turned to look at her in surprise.

"You have been treating me like a porcelain doll and I am sick of it! You've stopped listening to me, you don't talk to me, you hardly ever let me leave the house, you don't let me join you anymore whether it be you or Batman, and I can't take it anymore! What happened to me happened a year and a half ago! I have been completely fine for six months now! Why won't you just _let me in_?!"

"Because I can't lose you…like I have lost everyone else!" Bruce yelled back.

Kris hoped the kids couldn't hear them, but it was about time to get this out in the open. Besides, Bruce was about to leave to go kill Superman so it was now or never.

"I have lost my parents, and then I lost Rachel and then Lucius…and then I lost John. And it will kill me if I lose you too!"

"Bruce…if you keep pushing me away like you have been…you're going to lose me either way."

Bruce fell silent as he looked at her in despair.

"I've lost people too. I lost my mom and then my dad. I gave up my entire life to be here with you. No matter what, I would make the same decision all over again, but you think this whole life isn't hard on me? I watch you leave almost every night and wonder if you're going to come back. I have seen you poisoned with fear gas and your back practically snapped in two. But I never stop you from doing all of this because you are the hero this city needs. You always have been. Keeping me sheltered and refusing to talk to me about what's going on with you…isn't that the same as losing me?"

"Watching you in that hospital bed…never knowing if your eyes would open…I could never go through it again. I have to do what I can to prevent you from ever suffering like that."

"And you think this is the answer?"

"It's the only way. I'm sorry, Kris…but I have to do this."

Bruce started out of the room. As he walked down the steps to his former home, he clenched his fists and his mind traveled back to that painful day…

* * *

 _Bruce released the little girl he had saved from being crushed and ran over to the pile of broken building. He felt as if he was moving in slow motion and no matter what he did, he couldn't get there in time._

 _"_ _Kris!" he screamed hoarsely as he frantically moved pieces of rubble in order to free his trapped wife. "Can you hear me?! Kristina!"_

 _There was no answer._

 _He could feel the skin on his hands break with his frenzied efforts._

 _"_ _Someone help me!" he cried out._

 _People who weren't injured by the wreckage or helping someone else ran over to Bruce and helped him clear away the rock in the pile._

 _"_ _Hold on, baby!" Bruce called._

 _After what felt like hours, he finally caught a glimpse of brown hair and pale, dirtied skin. With his wife in his sights, Bruce started clearing the debris away twice as hard which only caused him to cut his hands more._

 _"_ _Kris! Kristina!"_

 _With one last piece of debris, he cleared away enough of the rubble for him to get to her. He climbed inside the remains of the pile and carefully cradled her in his arms. He was afraid to move her in case she had suffered too much internal damage._

 _"_ _Sweetheart, can you hear me?"_

 _Kris remained motionless. Blood and dirt covered her entire body. Bruce put his head to her chest and thankfully, he could make out a heartbeat albeit a faint one._

 _"_ _We need some help over here!" Bruce cried out._

 _He looked back at his unconscious wife and held her close to him, afraid that if he let go for a second, her faint heartbeat would disappear. With trembling blood-covered hands, he gently brushed her mangled hair away from her face._

 _"_ _Just hang on," he said quietly, tears forming in his eyes. "…Don't leave me."_


	8. Chapter 8

Karly sighed as she walked out of her office. "Good night, Matt."

"Good night, Miss Mathis," her assistant replied. "See you tomorrow morning."

The young woman strolled down the sidewalk out of the building and headed down to the bus station to catch a ride back to her apartment. She was exhausted, having had to work late, and she longed for nothing more than a good meal and some time in front of the TV.

Some time snuggling in Clark's arms on the couch wouldn't be too bad either, but he hadn't returned from falling off the face of the earth.

She didn't think much of the footsteps behind her. That is, until the person those footsteps belonged to came up right behind her.

Karly felt something press into her back and her heart skipped a beat.

"No sudden movement, Miss Mathis," a man growled in her ear. "Come with me, nice and easy."

 _Clark, where are you? Now would be a great time to reappear!_

Unfortunately, Clark did not hear her silent pleas from wherever he was.

The man led her to a nearby building and forced her all the up to the top where he had a helicopter waiting.

"I'm not getting in there," she said firmly.

The man pressed the gun painfully between her ribs. "Yes, you are, unless you want your guts splattered all over this rooftop."

Karly gritted her teeth and stepped into the helicopter. She didn't know what was going on, but it would be better to bide her time. Maybe by some miracle, either Clark would show up or she could maneuver herself out of this situation.

The helicopter took off into the night sky and flew around Metropolis before landing on the roof of the LexCorp building.

The door to the helicopter opened and the man inside waved his gun at her in order to force her to get out. She did so and saw that Lex Luthor was waiting for her.

Karly stared warily at the man atop the roof. What did this guy possibly want with her?

The helicopter took off again, leaving her stranded with the criminal.

"Cacophony of sound, chaos reigning…Karly Mathis," Lex smirked.

"What do you want?" Karly asked. "Why did you bring me here? Don't you know I've been working all day and I'm tired?"

Lex smiled at her and held his arm out. "Come see the view."

He came up to her and put his arm around her shoulders.

"Get off me."

When she attempted to squeeze out of his hold, he just held onto her tighter and walked with her to the edge.

"Now, the secret to the height is the building material," he explained. "It's light metals which…sway a bit in the wind."

Karly attempted to back away from the edge of the building. She understandably hated heights ever since the fight in Metropolis had sent her flying out of a plane.

But Lex kept a tight grip on her, refusing to let her move.

"Cut the crap, and tell me why I'm here," she demanded.

Lex finally released her and stood in front of her. "Wow, you're feisty."

"And you're psychotic."

"That is a three-syllable word for any thought too big for little minds," he said as he waved his hand over her forehead.

He began circling around her like a vulture. Karly turned with him, always making sure to keep an eye on him in case he tried anything.

"Next category: circles. Round and round and round they go to find Superman. Mm! Wrong category, boy. No, no, triangles. Yes, Euclid's triangle inequality."

Karly looked at him strangely at all his mumbling. She recalled he did something similar when delivering the extremely awkward speech at the gala. For all his admittedly brilliant strategic thinking, he really was terrible at talking to other people.

"The shortest distance between any two points is a straight path. You know, most people probably think that Superman has a thing for Lois Lane."

Karly rolled her eyes. As if he would have a thing for her. Sure, he saved her butt _constantly_ , but he certainly didn't have a thing for her.

Lex looked at her slyly as he backed her up to the edge of the roof. "I thought so too. Why else would I have used her as part of that little escapade in the desert?"

Karly's eyes widened. " _You_ were responsible for that?"

"The one and only! But then I did a little more digging and I realized something. I believe the straightest path to Superman…is a pretty little road…called Karly Mathis."

Quicker than Karly could process, Lex threw his hands out and pushed against her chest. The force was enough for Karly to go tumbling off the roof of the building before she had any chance of grabbing anything to stop the fall.

She let out an ear-piercing scream as Lex's face became smaller and smaller and the world rushed past her. Heart in her throat, she closed her eyes, waiting for her inevitable death.

Suddenly, she stopped falling.

She opened her eyes and saw that Clark had caught her in his strong arms just as he always did.

If she never fell from another great height again in her lifetime, it would be too soon.

Taking shuddering breaths, she put her arms around his neck as he pulled her closer to her. She kept her eyes on him so as not to see the ground so far away which did nothing for her panic. He flew away from the building and onto the ground.

"You okay?" he asked gently as he set her down.

Karly punched him hard on the chest even though she knew he would barely be able to feel it. "Do you have any idea worried I was?! I can't believe you just disappeared like that without a word to me!"

Clark looked at her remorsefully.

"And what if you hadn't made your sudden comeback now?! My brains would be covering the sidewalk!"

Clark didn't even want to think about that particular image.

Karly threw her arms around him and kissed him for the first time in days. His strong arms wrapped around her and tangled through her hair.

"I'm glad you're back," she whispered when she pulled away.

"Looks like I got here just in time."

"Are you finished being angsty?"

"Yeah, I got some clarity about a lot of things."

"Good."

Karly gently kissed him again.

When Clark pulled back, he stepped away from her and flew up into the air back onto the roof of LexCorp where Lex was waiting for him.

"Boy, do we have problems up here!" Lex cackled. He switched on a kitchen timer. "The problem of…of evil in the world. Uh, the problem of absolute virtue."

"I'll take you in without breaking you," Superman said coldly. "Which is more than you deserve."

"The problem of you on top of everything else. You above all. Because that's what God is. Horus. Apollo. Jehovah. Kal-El."

Superman slowly landed on the roof and started to walk towards him.

"Clark Joseph Kent."

Superman paused. How had Lex learned his true identity?

That explained why he had tossed Karly off the roof. Every part of him wanted to rip this man into pieces for putting the woman he loved in danger.

"See, what we call God depends upon our tribe, Clark Jo. Because God is tribal. God takes sides. No man in the sky intervened when I was a boy to deliver me from Daddy's fist and abominations. Mmm. I figured it out way back. If God is all-powerful, He cannot be all-good. And if He is all-good, then He cannot be all-powerful. And neither can you be. They need to see the fraud you are. With their eyes." He held up his hand covered in a blood-drenched bandage for Superman to see. "The blood on your hands."

"What have you done?"

"And tonight, they will. Yes. Because you, my friend, have a date! Across the bay." He walked over to the edge of the building for Superman to see the glowing Bat-signal. "Ripe fruit, his hate. Two years growing. But it did not take much to push him over actually. Not after what you did to his wife. Little red notes, big bang. 'You let your family die!' And now, you will fly to him, and you will battle him. To the death. Black and blue. Fight night! The greatest gladiator match in the history of the world. God versus man. Day versus night. Son of Krypton versus Bat of Gotham."

"You think I'll fight him for you?"

"Mmmm, yes, I do. I think you'll fight, fight, fight for that special lady in your life."

"She's safe on the ground. How about you?"

"Close, but I am not talking about Karly. No. Every boy's special lady is his mother."

Clark's heart sank. He quickly turned around and found Lex holding up several pictures of his captured and beaten mother.

"Martha, Martha, Martha. Hmm. Why, the mother of a flying demon must be a witch. The punishment for witches, what is that? That's right. Death by fire."

One by one, Lex threw the pictures onto the ground. Clark knelt down and picked one of them up, looking at it with horror. His own mother had been tied up and had 'WITCH' painted on her forehead.

Anger boiled up inside him and he felt his eyes heat up beyond his control. "Where is she?!"

"I don't know!" Lex sang. "I wouldn't let them tell me!" He held up a finger when he saw Clark's heated eyes. "Aha! If you kill me, Martha dies. And if you fly away, mmm, Martha also dies. But if you kill the Bat…Martha lives."

Clark willed away the heat in his eyes and allowed them to return to normal. He had never had to exhibit such restraint in his long life.

Lex smirked as he circled his hand around Clark's head. "There we go. There we go. Hm. And now God bends to my will."

Clark looked up and glared at him. He wasn't sure he had ever wanted to kill a person so much. He wouldn't even if his mother's life wasn't as stake, but he sure wanted to.

A helicopter approached and landed on the roof.

"Now the cameras are waiting at your ship! For the world to see the holes in the holy! Yes, the Almighty comes clean about how dirty he is when it counts. To save Martha, bring me the head of the Bat."

Superman numbly dropped the picture of Martha he had been holding.

Lex looked at the kitchen timer in his hand. "Mother of God, would you look at the time?!" he yelled over the helicopter. "When you came here, you had an hour. Now it's less."

Clark was at a loss. How could he possibly save his mother without killing another human being? It was one thing to kill Zod who was full Kryptonian and wanted to eradicate the entire human race. It was another thing completely to kill Batman who was nothing more than flesh and blood and only wanted to help his own city even if he didn't agree with his methods. And who was to say that Lex wouldn't kill his mother anyway even if he _did_ kill Batman?

Back on the ground, Karly called for a cab. She opened the door and was just about to step inside when she heard, "Karly."

Karly quickly spun around and found Superman standing on the sidewalk.

"I have to go to Gotham to convince him to help me."

She quickly walked over to him. "Help you with what?"

"Or he has to die."

"What are you talking about? What happened up there?"

"No one stays good in this world."

He started to fly up into the sky.

"Wait!" Karly called. "Take me with you!"

"I can't. I can't lose you too."

"Lose me too? Tell me what's going on!"

"There's no time…"

Superman sped off into the night with no further explanation.

Karly groaned in frustration. When this was over, they were going to have a serious talk about him flying off when they were talking. That was just cheating.

She ran back over to the waiting cab and hurried inside. "I need to get to Gotham. Now."


	9. Chapter 9

In the Batcave, Kris put on her headset to listen in on Bruce's fight. She had to be careful not to say too much for fear he would shut her off since he was already a hair's breadth away from doing so.

A news report on one of the screens showed something happening to the Kryptonian ship.

"CNN's Brooke Baldwin is on the scene," the announcer said behind footage of the active ship. "Brooke, you're live on the air. What do you see?"

Kris watched as the ship gave off massive flashes and electrical surges. She changed the channel to a different news station with a better view of what was going on.

"Police helicopters are surrounding the area," the reporter explained, cautious of all the flashes. "They've created a barricade around this containment center. And we're trying to get a little bit closer here to find out what's going on. It is absolute chaos. You can see that lightning. Those surges are increasing, and they seem to be getting stronger by the minute!"

Kris switched on the headset. "Bruce, you should know something. Superman's ship is going nuts. Something is happening to it, but no one knows what. It's sending out electrical surges and causing power outages all over the place."

There was no answer.

She sighed heavily. His coms may be on, but it didn't matter. He had completely shut her out by now.

"Bruce…please…think about what you're doing…"

"Enough," Bruce said lowly. "This is for the good of humanity."

"Is it really or is that what you keep telling yourself to justify you killing someone?"

"I've heard enough."

There was a click and his coms shut off.

Kris screamed in frustration and whipped off the headset before tossing it on the computer desk.

She raced out of the cave and back up to the house. "Alfred! I need the keys to the—"

Before she even had him in her sights, Alfred tossed her the keys to Bruce's Porsche. Kris smiled at him before running to the garage and zooming down the road.

* * *

Superman landed in front of Batman with a loud boom.

Batman smirked and held out his hands. "Well, here I am."

"Bruce…please," Superman begged. "I was wrong. You have to listen to me."

Batman slowly backed away from him.

"Lex wants us to—"

He was cut off when he stepped on a trigger and two machines blasted a high-frequency tone straight at him from both sides.

Superman groaned as the loud noise pierced his super-hearing, and he fell to the ground.

Batman smiled mercilessly. This was only the beginning.

Superman picked up a manhole cover from the ground, ripped it in two, and threw the pieces at each of the machines to silence the noise.

He looked back up at Batman. "You don't understand. There's no time!"

Batman walked right up to him until there was barely an inch between their faces. "I understand," he growled.

Superman pushed him on the chest, sending him flying back a good twenty feet.

He started to walk forward again when he triggered another trap. Four machines spouted bullets at him with enough force to push him back. He flew up into the air and used his heat vision to destroy all of the guns firing at him in a burst of flame.

Batman stood up from the ground and looked at all of the fire around him and Superman who had landed directly in front of him.

Superman walked towards him before grabbing him by the neck and flying up with him. He crashed right into the building next to them and flew up until they broke through the roof. Then Superman threw him right onto the Bat-signal searchlight.

Batman crashed into the bright light before rolling over to the edge of the roof. He stopped just short of falling off and down the long way to the ground.

Superman landed on the roof. "Stay down!" he ordered. "If I wanted it, you'd be dead already!"

Batman painfully stood up. Superman may think he had the upper hand, but he was only getting started. He hadn't even brought out his secret weapon yet.

He took out a grenade and pulled the pin. A small stream of thin smoke started to emit from it. He threw it at Superman's feet, and it exploded in a burst of thick dark smoke.

Superman flew directly into the smoke, but Batman had disappeared.

Too late, he realized that Batman was aiming a gun at him from behind. Batman fired the gun, but Superman simply caught it in his hand with ease. What exactly had Bruce been hoping to accomplish with this? Surely, he knew that he was bulletproof and fast enough to catch something before it hit him.

Suddenly, the cartridge in his hand exploded into a green cloud.

Clark felt his lungs constrict and he fell to the ground choking and coughing.

What was this? He didn't know anything was capable of affecting him like this. He felt as if his entire body was on fire, like his blood had suddenly started to boil inside him.

Batman slowly walked up to him, watching him writhe in agony. "Breathe it in," he growled. "That's fear."

 _It's what you made me and my wife and multiple people in your own city experience._

"You're not brave."

Superman stood up and threw a punch at him, but Batman's armor easily deflected it.

"Men are brave."

Superman looked at his arm in horror. The green mist had robbed him of his strength.

He and Batman began to engage in more physically-matched combat. Superman delivered punch after punch, but Batman deflected all of them. The dark knight head-butted him and then threw him across the roof to land on the skylight.

For just the second time in his life, Clark knew physical pain. His body still hurt from the green mist, and now with all of Batman's attacks against him, he wasn't feeling so great.

And with every second he wasted here, his mother was in more and more danger.

Batman stomped up to him and jumped on him, sending both of them crashing through the skylight.

Superman groaned in pain, direly hoping the effects of the green gas wouldn't last too much longer.

Batman roughly kicked him across the floor of the building they had crashed into. He then proceeded to kick him, punch him, and slam his head into the wall.

Superman tried to defend himself, but his reaction time had delayed considerably and he couldn't prepare himself in enough time before getting hit again.

Bruce relished the feeling of finally defeating the one who had nearly cost him everything. Every kick and every punch were penance for all the time he had spent in the hospital, watching his unconscious wife and wondering if the hospital bed was going to be her death bed.

He remembered sitting next to her every single day for hours, holding her hand in his and lightly pressing kisses to it.

He remembered reading her favorite books and playing her favorite songs in the hopes it would help her come back to him.

He remembered knowing that the only source of life in her was her chest slowly rising and falling. Other than that, she was deadly still. Even after all the cuts were gone and the bones had finished healing, she remained dead to the world.

He remembered the gut-wrenching moment when the doctor told him that there was little hope, and that it might be better for him to turn off the machines and let her go.

And all of that was Superman's fault.

On the ground, Superman tried to catch his breath. Finally, the painful feeling inside his bones subsided and he could feel his strength slowly returning.

Batman went to kick him again, but Superman quickly caught his leg. He then picked him up and rammed him through the wall.

Batman groaned and stood back up. "I will protect her from you," he said quietly.

Superman and Batman ran towards each other. Batman grabbed him and pressed him against the wall before delivering several punches to his face.

Superman reacted to them at first, but gradually each punch ceased to affect him. On the last one, his face did not move at all, and Batman's armored hand suffered critical damage.

Superman flew up and rammed into Batman which sent them crashing through the floor onto the level below them. They ended up in an old bathroom. He then picked him up and hurled him through all of the decayed stalls.

Batman groaned in pain. The effect of the kryptonite hadn't lasted as long as he'd thought it would.

But that was easy to fix.

Superman stood up and glared at him. On the ground, Batman quickly reloaded his gun. Just as Superman charged and flew up in the air to deliver another blow, he fired.

Another green cloud enveloped Superman and he went crashing to the ground as the terrible feeling of his blood boiling and his bones disintegrating returned to him.

The fall knocked Batman away several feet as well, breaking part of his mask in the process.

Superman groaned in agony, trying to will away the sheer pain he was experiencing.

Batman stood up and yanked on one of the sinks so the top came off in his hands. He walked over to Superman who once again writhed on the ground.

 _This is for Kristina_.

He slammed the sink on top of his head as hard as he could.

With Superman severely weakened, Batman hoisted him up onto his shoulder and walked over to the railing in the center of the building. Feeling no remorse, he flung the man over the railing sending him falling several stories onto the ground below.

He fired his grappling hook and attached it to the floor above him before rappelling down to the ground next to the defeated alien. He then tied a rope around his foot and began dragging him across the floor.

"I bet your parents taught you that you mean something," he bit out. "That you're here for a reason. My parents taught me a different lesson…dying in the gutter for no reason at all."

Batman swung the rope around the entire room, letting Superman crash through several stone pillars before falling to the ground.

"They taught me the world only makes sense if you force it to."

He knelt down and picked up the specially-made spear he had shoved into the ground just a couple hours ago.

The kryptonite that made up the spear glowed brightly in his hand as he slowly walked over to the alien.

Superman groaned in pain as the spear came closer to his body and gave him the feeling that he was being torn into several pieces. How could something like that cause him so much agony?

Batman flipped him over with his boot. "You were never a god." He pressed his foot onto Superman's neck. "You were never even a man."

He used the spear to slice him across the face, making good on his promise to make him bleed. This was only a small glimpse of what he was about to do to him.

He raised the spear above his head.

"You're letting him…kill Martha," Superman groaned, barely able to speak from a combination of Batman's foot on his throat and the sheer amount of pain he felt from the kryptonite.

"…What does that mean?" Batman asked, slowly lowering the spear. "Why did you say that name?"

"Find…him. Save…Martha."

Suddenly, Bruce had gone back to that fateful night. The night where he watched his mother and father die before his very eyes.

"Why did you say that name?!"

Karly ran inside the building as fast as her legs would carry her. Her heart sank at the sight before her: the man she loved being crushed to death by none other than Batman who had a green spear held over him.

She ran over to Clark and threw herself over him. "No!" she screamed. "Please don't!"

Kristina appeared and pushed against Bruce's chest. "Bruce, stop it. Stop!"

"Martha! Why did you say that name?!"

"It's his mother's name! It's his mother's name! Now stop! Stop!"

Bruce took his foot away from Superman's neck and backed away from him.

"You said you wanted to get rid of him because he is an alien," Kris said forcefully. "But right now, he is more human than you are!"

Bruce looked at her with eyes full of confusion and remorse, her words stinging more than anything Superman had done to him.

"How do you think it makes me feel to know that you are going to cross a line you can never come back from all because of me?"

…He had never thought about how his actions affected her. She would never be able to live with herself if she knew the reason for him killing Superman was ultimately because of her.

How could he do that to her?

Kris pointed at Karly who was gently stroking Clark's hair. "I want you to look at her. You look at this girl. This is Karly Mathis, and she loves Clark as much as I love you. Think of how she will feel if you take him away from her. Are you going to stand there and tell me that you are willing to put her through the exact same thing you went through with me?"

Bruce looked over at the girl. She gently rubbed Clark's face as he gripped onto her hand for support. He could hear her whispering to him, "Breathe. Breathe. It'll be okay."

He looked back at his wife and recalled that one beautiful moment…

* * *

 _Bruce rubbed his hand over Kris's. It had been just over six months since the battle in Metropolis, and she still hadn't woken up._

 _The money to keep the machines on wasn't a problem for a billionaire, but how long could he wait? Even the doctors didn't hold out hope for her anymore. They all kept saying that she should've woken up by now, and the fact that she hadn't meant she most likely never would._

 _It took Bruce a little while to realize that the hand he was holding had begun to move._

 _He looked up at Kris's eyes and bolted out of the chair when they fluttered open._

 _"…_ _Kristina?"_

 _She gave a weak smile. "Hey."_

 _Bruce felt tears come to his eyes as he let out a relieved laugh. He pressed his hand to her head and gently rubbed his thumb over her skin._

 _"_ _I'm so glad you're okay," he told her._

 _Kris slowly lifted one of her hands to touch the side of his face._

 _Bruce pressed his lips to hers in a soft kiss. "I missed you so much."_

 _It was hard to remember a time he had ever felt happier._

 _His wife was alive and awake and she was going to be okay._

* * *

Bruce looked back at Karly then at the spear in his hands then at his wife.

He had fully intended to kill Superman tonight and he would've felt nothing. He would've broken the one rule he had always strived to live by, and he had fooled himself into thinking that it was to protect the rest of humanity.

In reality, Kris had been absolutely right. It had all been nothing more than his own personal desire to seem him suffer for causing his wife pain.

Had he completed the act, he would've left this woman to mourn for him just as he had feared and mourned for Kris. Not only that, but he would've robbed a mother of her only child.

Suddenly…the alien became human.

With an enraged scream, Bruce threw the spear several feet from them so Clark could no longer feel the deadly effects of it.

"…Kristina?" Karly asked in confusion.

Kris gave her an embarrassed smile. "Hi, Karly."

"You don't seem surprised to see me. Did you know?"

"Yeah, I did."

"But…but how?"

"You'd be amazed at the kind of information I can find out."

Bruce came back over to them and took Superman's hand before helping him stand up.

"Luthor," Clark groaned. "He wanted your life for hers. She's losing time."

"The ship is going crazy outside," Kris explained. "I think it's drawing power from the city. There are blackouts everywhere."

"It's got to be Lex," Karly added.

"They need you at that ship," Bruce told Clark. "I'll find her."

"My mother needs me," Clark stated as he started to walk away.

Bruce quickly stopped him. "Wait! I'll make you a promise. Martha won't die tonight."

Clark paused before nodding.

Bruce nodded back and took off to save Clark's mother.

Kris smiled a little. It was about time they made amends. Now the Justice League could _finally_ get started.

She also knew that saving Martha Kent would give Bruce some closure regarding his failure to save his own mother all those years ago.

Kris's cell phone rang and she quickly took it out of her pocket. "Hello?"

"I take it things went well then, Mrs. Wayne."

"Alfred!" Kris laughed. "Were you listening the whole time?"

"Most of it. I've taken over as Master Wayne's personal control. Better go now. Looks like I'll be navigating the Batwing."

"Good luck."

"I'm glad you kept him from falling."

"Yeah. Now it's your turn."

"I'll do my best."

"Thanks."

Kris hung up the phone and looked over at a confused Karly.

She awkwardly walked over to the young woman. "Uh…I'm really sorry about what my husband did to your boyfriend. When I told you he took the whole battle in Metropolis personally, I never realized it was this personal."

"Well, if he saves Clark's mother, that will probably make them even. Clark was never one to hold grudges anyway."

"I'm glad one of them doesn't."

Karly walked over and retrieved the kryptonite spear. "I can't believe this little thing can hurt him so much."

"We'll do our best to keep him away from that stuff in the future. Or on the off-chance that some other Kryptonian appears with the intent to destroy our world, we can use it on them."

Karly dropped the spear onto the ground when loud noises and brightness from outside the building led the two women to go see what was going on.

The whole sky had basically been lit on fire from some kind of massive explosion.

Something huge crashed down onto the ground from the middle of the fire in the sky and landed on Stryker's Island.

"That…wasn't Clark, was it?" Karly asked apprehensively.

A loud, unearthly growl sounded from the island that they could both clearly hear despite the distance.

"I'm thinking that's a no," Kris responded.

Her cell phone began ringing again.

"What is that thing?" she demanded.

"One can only guess," Alfred answered. "But it's survived everything thrown its way. We've deduced it's Kryptonian, and I'm sure you know the only way to kill it."

"Okay, when I mentioned another Kryptonian appearing, I didn't think it would be now! Are you kidding me?!"

Suddenly, the Batwing crashed into the side of the building.

"I gotta go."

She hung up the phone and ran to the opening in the building that allowed her to see Bruce and his downed vehicle.

The creature slid down the building on the other side of the road and crashed through the debris right in front of Bruce.

Karly and Kris's eyes widened as they saw the huge, hideous creature clearly.

"Doomsday," Kris breathed.


	10. Chapter 10

This was bad. In her world, Doomsday caused the death of Superman. She knew that she could never tip him off about that without revealing how she knew that information. Superman, wherever he was, had to be aware by now that this thing was even more powerful than he was. If he was smart, he would leave most of the killing to Batman.

That is…if Bruce made it out of the Batwing alive.

The creature's eyes began to glow red and they sent a huge blast of fire towards Bruce stuck in the Batwing.

"No!" Kris screamed.

The blast never hit him. It reflected off something in its way.

What on earth could block a blast of heat vision from something like that?!

The blast stopped, allowing everyone to see what had managed to block it.

None other than Wonder Woman stood in front of the Batwing with her arms crossed, her indestructible cuffs protecting her and everything behind her.

"Oh, sweet!" Kris laughed. That entrance really could not have been more fantastic…or better timed.

"Do you know her?" Karly asked.

"Sort of. I more know _of_ her."

"Who is she?"

"To me, she's best known as Wonder Woman."

"Well, she just saved your husband's life."

Wonder Woman slammed her cuffs together to create a sonic blast that pushed the creature several feet away.

"She's awesome," Karly remarked.

Something else fell from the sky and rammed right into the creature, sending it flying into a chemical silo. The silo exploded, destroying all of the nearby silos as well.

That could only be one person.

Karly and Kris rushed over to Batman and Wonder Woman.

Kris tightly embraced Bruce. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied.

"And Martha Kent?"

"She's safe."

"Why did you bring him back to the city?" Wonder Woman asked.

Bruce grabbed his shotgun filled with kryptonite gas from the Batwing. "The port is abandoned. And there's a weapon here that can kill it."

Superman landed in front of them, and Karly quickly went up to him and hugged him. "Thank goodness you're okay."

Clark tightly hugged her back before looking up at Bruce. "Did you find the spear?"

"I've been a little busy," Batman said.

Wonder Woman looked in the direction of the burning silos. "This thing, this creature, seems to feed on energy."

Superman walked over to stand next to her. "This thing is from another world. My world."

Wonder Woman drew her sword and faced the creature. "I've killed things from other worlds before."

Superman turned to Batman. "Is she with you?"

"I thought she was with you," Batman answered.

"We'll go get the spear," Kris said. "You three keep that thing busy."

She firmly kissed Bruce on the lips while Karly did the same with Clark. Then the two women bounded off towards the building to retrieve the spear in order to defeat Doomsday.

"Man, I love being married," Bruce remarked.

Wonder Woman rolled her eyes.

Inside the crumbled remains of the abandoned building, Kris and Karly searched around for the spear since they couldn't remember where exactly they had left it.

Kris's eyes scanned the floor. Finally, they landed on something glowing a dim green.

"Karly!" she called. "I found it!"

She quickly went over and retrieved the kryptonite spear which had landed near a small pool of water.

"Watch out!" she heard Karly scream.

Kris looked up and saw parts of the building starting to fall towards her. Hoping to protect herself, she quickly fell back into the pool of water.

Fortunately, the pieces of the building that fell were too big to land inside the water and crush her.

Her relief was short-lived when she realized that the chunks were so big that they blocked her escape. She couldn't get out of the water for air.

True to her character, Kris's main thought was, _This is perfect! I've waited over ten years to see the Justice League form and right when it starts to happen, I'm going to die?!_

Karly managed to evade the falling pieces of the building just in time. She wasn't sure what had caused everything to crumble, but she had a feeling Doomsday was somehow responsible.

Once she gained her bearings, she looked around for Kris.

"Kristina?!" she called out.

She raced over to where she had seen her before the building started to fall. Some of the pieces had landed on a small pool of water, but neither Kris nor the spear were to be found.

Suddenly, a hand shot out of the water in between a small crack in the destroyed wall that rested on the water.

Karly gasped and ran to the water. She could see Kris's face beneath the crack as she simultaneously stretched her hand through it.

"Kristina!" she screamed.

In a panic, Karly tried to pull up the large piece of wall trapping Kris underwater, but it weighed a ton and she couldn't move it an inch.

"It's too heavy!" she cried.

She looked through the crack again and could see Kris growing weaker due to lack of air.

With no other options, she began screaming at the top of her lungs, "Clark! Clark, please help me!"

Outside, the battle with Doomsday raged on, and it was clear that the creature was winning.

Superman shot his heat vision at it, but it just shot back a beam of his own right at him.

They held onto the fight for several seconds until the creature's beam proved too strong for him and he crashed backwards into another abandoned building.

Superman shot up into the air ready to fire again when he very clearly heard someone calling his name.

He would know that panicked voice anywhere.

Clark focused in on the voice until he knew the location and then zoomed towards it in the building where he had fought Batman just an hour beforehand.

He found Karly screaming her head off by a pool covered in debris.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's Kristina!" she answered. "She's trapped in there!"

Clark's eyes widened. He quickly removed the huge piece of broken wall out of the pool. Then he reached beneath the water and grabbed Kris's arm before pulling her out of it.

She inhaled sharply as oxygen finally reached her lungs. Clark gently placed her on the ground as she coughed and panted.

Karly rushed to her side and put her hand to her back. "It's okay, it's okay. Take some deep breaths."

Kris looked up at Superman. "I…I think that save means you're even in my husband's eyes now."

Clark gave her a sad smile before diving into the pool to retrieve the spear.

Kris's bottom lip trembled from the cold water as she and Karly waited for Clark to resurface.

It took longer than it should have, but he finally bobbed up facedown, weakened from the kryptonite.

"Help him," Kris mustered out.

Karly ran over to him and pulled him out of the water. In his hands, he held the kryptonite spear.

Clark ungracefully flopped onto the ground, his face contorted in pain.

Kris forced herself over to them and moved the spear away so that Clark wouldn't feel the painful effects of it.

It was the least she could do after he just saved her from drowning.

Clark slowly regained his strength after some distance had been put between him and the deadly weapon. Karly put her hands on him in an effort to provide some kind of comfort throughout all of the pain.

All of them looked at the battle in front of them. Doomsday tossed Wonder Woman several feet. She quickly grabbed her sword and used to it to block Doomsday's arm just as it was about to crush her. She then maneuvered her sword around and cut its hand off. In anger, Doomsday punched her with its other hand.

Electricity glowed all around the creature and his missing hand was replaced with a crude version of Wonder Woman's sword.

Things were looking quite grim.

Clark put his hand on Karly's. "I love you."

Karly looked out at the fire blazing on the 'battlefield' and her heart sank when she realized why he was saying this now. Her eyes quickly began watering as she looked back at him.

"No, no, you can't," she cried softly.

"This is my world."

Karly slowly ran her hand across his cheek. "It always was."

Clark gazed at her lovingly and smiled. "You are my world."

Karly let out a strained laugh. "That's really cliché. You know that, right?"

"Doesn't make it any less true."

A tear ran down Karly's cheek. "Please…don't leave me."

Clark wiped the tear away before leaning his forehead against hers and gently kissing her. He got up and started towards the spear.

"No, no!" Karly cried out as she held onto him as long as she could.

She put her hand to her mouth and stood up to watch the ensuing battle. Kris stood up as well and came by her side.

This wasn't going to be good.

Superman flew into the air and grabbed the spear, immediately feeling it poison him. He mustered up all the strength he had left in him and flew directly towards Doomsday.

Wonder Woman used her Golden Lasso to restrain the creature, but it took everything she had to keep it contained.

From a distance, Batman shot his last kryptonite smoke bomb at it. The creature fell to its knees weakened from the resulting cloud of green smoke surrounding its head.

Feeling drained and sick, Superman flew towards Doomsday and rammed the kryptonite spear deep into its chest. The creature roared in agony which sent more bolts of electricity shooting around the vicinity.

A piece of flying rock hit Wonder Woman and she lost her grip on the lasso.

Doomsday broke free and grabbed Superman in its large hand. With the other hand that had Wonder Woman's sword knock-off, it stabbed Superman directly in the chest.

Karly flinched beside Kris, and the older woman took the other's hand in her own. She had hoped it wouldn't happen, but what she had feared was coming to pass.

Superman put all thoughts on Karly. If he failed now, this creature would kill her and he refused to let that happen. This gave him just the surge of energy he needed to shove the spear so deep into Doomsday that it came out of its back.

The creature howled in pain and huge beams of yellow and green light shot out of various parts of its body. Then the howling stopped and the creature fell to the ground dead.

"Clark!" Karly screamed as she took off running into the wreckage.

Kris joined her to ensure that her husband was okay. Unfortunately, she already knew Superman's outcome.

Bruce slowly approached Doomsday's body, feeling sick when he saw the dead body of Superman inside its lifeless hand. He knelt down and closed his eyes for him.

Karly finally came up to them, and Diana cast her a solemn look.

More tears came to the young woman's eyes when she saw their faces.

Bruce gently wrapped Superman's cape around him before carefully lowering him down. Diana supported his head while Karly and Kris took his torso and legs, and the three women slowly brought him down to the ground.

Karly put Clark's head in her lap and ran her fingers across his face and through his hair. "Please," she cried. "Please, Clark. Open your eyes. You can't. You can't leave me. Please…no."

She began wailing and crying over his lifeless form, and no one could say anything to help her feel better.

Bruce came down to their level and lightly hugged Kris. They both turned to look at Karly crying over Clark.

"He saved my life," Kris said softly. "Just before…"

Bruce held her close to him, at a complete loss for words. Things had gone so much differently this night than he had planned. Only a few hours ago, he had no idea that he would stand mourning the loss of Metropolis's superhero.

But much to his surprise, he felt a sharp stabbing pain in the pit of his stomach.


	11. Epilogue

While Metropolis had a huge military-led funeral procession that nearly every citizen of Metropolis attended in addition to a candlelight vigil in Superman's honor, a small funeral for the farmboy-turned-reporter was held at the Kent farm in Smallville. His casket lay open in the living room for a viewing before the service took place.

Bruce and Kris made the trip from Gotham to Metropolis to pay their respects.

Karly slowly walked up the stairs and went inside Clark's old room to get a moment of quiet. She wondered how much time he had spent up here as a teenager possibly dreaming about her. Both of them had always had eyes on each other all throughout high school, but neither of them had been courageous enough to make a move.

She had thought that this was fate's way of working things out, but it appeared fate just wanted to laugh in her face.

The door creaked open and Martha walked inside. She gave Karly a sad smile as she handed her a small package.

"Clark had this sent here so he could surprise you."

Karly took the package from her, and Martha tearfully left. Confused, the young woman took a seat on the bed before opening the package and pulling out a tiny black bag.

Her heart sank. Out of the bag fell a beautiful ring.

Karly put her hand to her mouth as more tears blurred the view of the diamond.

Kris lightly knocked on the door. "Karly?"

Karly looked up at her and showed her the ring as she gave a pained smile. "He was going to propose."

Kris had no idea they had been so serious. She was still confused that a Karly Mathis even existed in such a famous universe, much less was Superman's girlfriend. But it appeared that she had indeed replaced Lois Lane in this universe.

It must break this girl's heart to realize that she very nearly had a fiancé.

Tears began spilling down Karly's cheeks. "He was supposed to be invincible," she cried. "I mean…I've only seen him seriously hurt once in the past two years. This…this was never supposed to happen."

Kris quickly came to sit next to her on the bed and put her arms around her as she began sobbing. She quietly shushed her and held her tightly, wishing that she could tell her everything would be okay.

In her world, Superman came back to life after being killed by Doomsday as written in the comics. Of course, she hadn't known that before. When she was very young, Kris had stumbled across an old comic of her dad's that ended just after Superman died at the end of the battle. Not knowing at that age that comics were more than one volume long, Kris had spent several years believing that in that particular universe, Superman died. It was only much later did she learn that he actually came back to life.

But in this world, she had no idea if that was the case. It could be that Superman was gone for good. If not, that would be great, but she could never fill Karly with that kind of false hope. Besides, if she told Karly that, she would also end up having to explain she knew Superman would die at Doomsday's hand, and she was sure that wouldn't go over well.

After the procession, Clark's body was buried in the same cemetery as his father. The crowd dispersed until only Karly was left behind, staring down inside the six-foot hole.

She felt as if she was in some kind of horrific nightmare and that soon, she would wake up and Clark would be in her kitchen cooking her breakfast.

But she stayed awake, and Clark stayed dead.

Kris and Bruce watched her from several feet away.

"I can't believe I was almost the one to cause all this," Bruce said softly.

Kris took his hand in hers. "But you weren't."

"I was so convinced that he couldn't really be…human. But seeing all this…a girlfriend he wanted to marry, a loving mother, caring neighbors…I mean, if it hadn't been for you…"

"I'll always be there to pull you back when you get too close. That's what wives are for."

She gently kissed his hand and leaned her head on his shoulder.

Diana came up behind them and stood next to the both of them, all of them looking sadly at Karly.

"All the circuses back east, burying an empty box," Bruce said.

"They don't know how to honor him, except as a soldier."

"I've failed him…in life. I won't fail him in death. Help me find the others like you."

"Perhaps they don't want to be found."

"They will. And they'll fight. We have to stand together."

Diana sighed. "A hundred years ago, I walked away from mankind. From a century of horrors. Man made a world where standing together is impossible."

"Men are still good."

Kris smiled. It had been a while since he believed those words. It would've been nice if Superman hadn't had to die first, but she would take her small victories where she could get them.

"We fight. We kill. We betray one another. But we can rebuild. We can do better. We will. We have to."

"The others like me. Why did you say they'll have to fight?"

"Just a feeling."

At least the Justice League was still in the works. It wouldn't be the same without Superman assuming he did stay dead, but it was still going to be pretty awesome. This universe's Diana was proof enough of that.

* * *

Bruce and Kris walked inside their home and took off their black coats.

Kris poured them both a glass of wine.

"Bruce…I've been thinking," Kris said as she sipped the wine.

"Thinking about what?"

"About…us having a child."

Bruce looked at her in surprise. "Really?"

"I think the both of us are too old by now to have one of our own, and I don't know how I would feel about bringing a newborn baby into this kind of life we live. We wouldn't even really have time to care for a newborn. But…there are a lot of kids who need a good home. And despite it all, we would be pretty awesome parents."

Bruce took a sip from his glass, contemplating what she was saying.

"Our old home is full of kids who need a mother and a father to take care of them. Some of them have never known life outside of an orphanage. We could give one of them the home they need."

Bruce had never thought about having a child before. With his life, he didn't think it was possible.

Then again, despite what Kris said, she probably could care for a newborn baby and coach him on his Batman trips at the same time. He wouldn't put it past her.

But having one who was a bit older could work out well since they wouldn't need to be with them every second of the day.

Kris put her hand on his arm. "Just think about it, okay?"

Bruce lightly touched her hand and turned to face her. "I don't need to think about it. Let's do it."

Kris smiled. "Really?"

"Really."

After watching a couple ripped apart, Bruce wanted nothing more than to appreciate his wife for everything she was to him. He loved her more than life itself, and he hated how much he had been neglecting her for the past several months.

He pulled her towards him and pressed his forehead against hers. Then he gently kissed her, moving his hands up into her hair and slowly taking it out of the bun she had put it in for the funeral.

He leaned down and put his arm beneath her legs so he could lift her up into his arms. They began to kiss each other more passionately.

Bruce carried his precious wife into the bedroom and kicked the door closed behind him.


End file.
